Vivek High School, Sector 38, will now go to court after the UT education department’s order on December 27 to derecognise the school over not admitting EWS students under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act.
Chairperson of the school HS Mamik said, “We will file a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court as the order is not legal. For around 20 years we had a stay on our recognition from the HC and this is something that the department has acknowledged before and can’t go back on.”
The UT education department has given the school time till January 9 to give an undertaking that if it admits EWS students under the RTE then the order will be withdrawn. Mamik said they are hoping that the case is heard by the court before the January 9 deadline.
He added, “We follow the Montessori system, and the entry-level classes start from 1.5 years onwards. We have offered the department a solution that we will take EWS students in Class 1, but the department must also provide compensation for all EWS students and shouldn’t expect the school to teach them for free.”
Parents not worried over derecognition
{{/usCountry}}Parents not worried over derecognition
{{/usCountry}}However, parents are not worried as they believe that the school will be able to get relief before the start of the 2024-25 academic session.
A parent expressed hope that the school will be able to get a stay from the Punjab and Haryana high court as St Kabir Public School, Sector 26, was able to get a stay from the HC earlier in the similar case. Parents also called it a “never-ending cat-and-mouse game” and alleged that every year the department does something against the school on the issue of EWS admissions.
Parents have also questioned whether EWS and other disadvantaged students will be able to adapt to the Montessori system used by the school for its pre-primary classes.
Mamik said winter vacation in the school is till January 18, but parents are not worried, and said he has also received a few calls from parents expressing their support to the school.
The education department on December 27 had derecognised the school over not giving admissions to EWS students in the 2023-24 session and for not giving their consent to participate in the centralised EWS admissions for 2024-25 either. The department claims that under the RTE Act, the school is supposed to reserve 25% seats for EWS students, which it hasn’t done till now.