Schools play wait & watch game

Updated on: Friday, October 28, 2011

The pre-primary admission season for the academic year 2012-2013 is round the corner, but it is rife with uncertainty and confusion as principals are still in the dark about whether to reserve 25% of seats in their schools for economically weaker sections of society, as stipulated in the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. With the Maharashtra government yet to issue circulars on the rules based on the Central Act after it was passed in the state cabinet this year, schools are waiting for the Supreme Court’s verdict before making changes in the admission process. Many private schools have already started issuing kindergarten admission forms or will do so before the end of 2011.

The principals TOI spoke to said they plan to complete a partial admission process by January and then wait for the verdict. Rohan Bhatt, principal of Children’s Academy at Malad, said: “Though the Act covers students from 6-14 years, it also says that the rules apply to institutions with a pre-school section. It is not possible for schools to admit students in Standard I as most of the children have been promoted from kindergarten. If 25% seats have to be reserved for the economically weaker section, it has to done at pre-school.” He added that while waiting for the verdict, the school will admit candidates whose siblings are already studying in school or children of alumni. “We will wait till February to fill the rest of the seats.”

While most principals are bracing themselves for a sea change in the admission system if the 25% reservation comes into effect next year, for some schools implanting the policy will not be difficult. Sister Rani Anthony, principal of Villa Theresa High School at Pedder Road,said:“Our school already admits students from the economically weaker section. Nevertheless, we will have to wait for the government’s order. Our admission season begins only in January, so we have enough time to formulate the process.”

Holy Family High School in Andheri (E) has adopted a similar approach. “As we are a minority institute, 50% of our seats are reserved for students from the Catholic community. We also set aside 20% of the seats for emergency cases and fill them up a month before the academic year begins. Hopefully, the verdict will be out before the next academic year begins,” said principal Father Francis Swamy. Meera Isaacs, principal of Cathedral and John Connon School at Fort said, “We are yet to take a decision as the admission process will begins after the new year.”

The state’s school education minister Rajendra Darda said that the state cabinet has already passed the rules under the RTE Act and will soon issue circulars. “Schools will have to follow the Act’s policies for the admission process subject to the Supreme Court’s verdict.” The principal of St Gregorios School at Chembur, Ranjini Krishnaswamy said that the rules are not clear. “We are not sure if we need to follow the RTE guidelines for preschool as the act applies to students from 6-14 years. We will invite applications from the last week of November, but start the process only in January 2012. Hopefully, things will be clearer by then,” she said. Campion School in Colaba has already begun its online registration process for pre-primary candidates, but the principal, Paul Machado, said he will wait for the SC order as well.

Many school principals say that they haven’t been approached by students from the under-privileged section of society. Carl Laurie, principal of Christ Church School, Byculla, said, “There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding this rule. To date, we have not got a single application from candidates for seats under the 25% quota. If we do get applicants, we will follow the government’s order.”

Schools play wait & watch game

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