Disabled kids may be entitled to quota in nearby pvt schools

Updated on: Thursday, December 24, 2009

New Delhi: Children with any kind of disability may now be entitled to reservation in admission in private schools in the neighbourhood.

The Union Cabinet today approved introduction of a bill in Parliament to amend the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 for the purpose.

The amendment to the Act also aims at changing the mandate of school management committees constituted under the Act for aided minority institutions. The Act provides for free and compulsory education as a fundamental right of every child in the 6-14 age bracket and earmarks 25 per cent seats to children from "economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups" in private schools.

The amendment to Act aims at including children with disabilities within the meaning of "children belonging to disadvantaged group", Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters.
The amendment also aims at widening the definition of disabled children, who have been ensured right to pursue free and compulsory elementary education.

The existing Act refers to disabled children as defined under the Person with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection and Full Participation) Act, 1996. The amendment will treat children with disabilities as defined in the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999.

The amendment to the Act will ensure inclusion of children with disabilities within the meaning of "children belonging to disadvantaged group", Soni said.

As children of disadvantaged groups are entitled to 25 per cent reservation, the disabled children will now be entitled to such benefits, once the amendment is passed. The amendment will also take care of concerns raised by certain minority groups that provisions regarding the management committee under the Act are inconsistent with Article 30 of the Constitution.

Article 30 provides the minorities with the right to establish and administer educational institutions freely. As per the RTE Act, the management committee should comprise elected representatives of the local authority, parents or guardians of children, and teachers.

After considering the concerns raised by these groups, the government decided to amend the Act to ensure that School Management Committee constituted under the Act by aided minority institutions perform advisory function only. In other schools such committees will monitor the working of the school, prepare and recommend school development plans and monitor the utilisation of the grants received from the government and local authority.

Disabled kids may be entitled to quota in nearby pvt schools

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