No transfer certificate needed to shift child from private to govt school, says Sisodia

More number of children are likely to switch from private schools to government ones in the national capital as the Delhi government on Thursday announced that such students will not need to produce transfer certificates (TCs) while seeking admission

More number of children are likely to switch from private schools to government ones in the national capital as the Delhi government on Thursday announced that such students will not need to produce transfer certificates (TCs) while seeking admission.

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Figures with the Directorate of Education (DoE) shows that it received around 21,000 more applications this year, as compared to last year, from children seeking admissions to entry-level classes and in classes 6 to 12 in Delhi government schools.

The state education department this year received 28,000 applications for entry-level classes — nursery, kindergarten and class 1 — as compared to 21,000 last year. The rise is steeper in classes 6 to 12, department officials said. “Last year, we received a total of around 76,000 applications. This year after the first phase itself, we have around 90,400 applications,” said a senior official of the education department, asking not to be named.

During a press briefing on Thursday, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said the decision to not seek transfer certificates was taken to ease the whole process as several parents, who are facing pandemic-induced financial distress, complained of being denied transfer certificates by private schools over pending fee.

“Some private schools are holding back transfer certificates and are asking parents to deposit the full fee first. So many parents are unable to admit their child to a government school. Taking cognisance of this issue, and after receiving several such complaints, the Directorate of Education has been asked to ensure that provisional admission is granted to students. Officials from DoE should secure the TCs directly from the private schools concerned,” Sisodia said.

On May 31, the Delhi high court, acting on a plea by an association of 450 private schools called the Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Schools, set aside two government orders issued in 2020, prohibiting private schools from collecting annual charges and development fee during the lockdown period.

The court directed that schools may collect these charges for the last academic year retrospectively, in six monthly instalments starting from June 10, but after offering a rebate of 15% on the total fee in lieu of unused facilities during the lockdown. The court also allowed schools to charge the whole fee for the 2021-22 academic year.

On Thursday, Sisodia said students may submit other documents to ease the admission process. “The child and parents may bring the other documents from the school concerned and the education department will obtain the transfer certificate,” he said.

Private school managements have condemned the move saying it will disrupt the general to EWS category student ratio in their schools, thereby affecting its functioning. RC Jain, vice-president of Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Schools, said the new policy will only lead to more confusion.

“We have to submit the data of our school rolls for various government surveys. If a child doesn’t obtain a transfer certificate from our school and yet gets admitted to a government school, (s)he will be enrolled in two places and it will lead to data mismanagement. The directive is also an attack on private schools as we will be unable to adhere to the Right to Education Act directive that stipulates a 75:25 ratio for general to EWS category students in a classroom.”

Educationist Meeta Sengupta said the world over, economic constraints during recessions have fuelled migrations to public schools. “Whenever countries such as the US or the UK went into recession, there has been a shift towards public schools in those countries. While this move [of doing away with TCs] will make private schools unhappy, it will ensure that children are not stuck in a limbo and are able to continue their studies,” she said.