All screening by schools to stop?

Once the Right to Education act is notified, no school will be allowed to hold any kind of screening test for children or parents.

Once the Right to Education act is notified, no school will be allowed to hold any kind of screening test for children or parents.

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Clause 13 of the Act, passed last year and likely to notified later this year, clearly says ‘No school or person shall, while admitting a child, collect any capitation fee and subject the child or his or her parents or guardian to any screening procedure’. The rule covers all schools — government, aided and unaided.

Model rules for the Act were distributed to state education secretaries on Friday, but there was no reference in it to the process of screening before admissions.

“We deliberately did not touch that subject. No schools, including private schools, can conduct screening once the rules are notified,” said a senior Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry official.

Thus the points system in Delhi, where private schools allot children seeking admission points based on a range of criteria will cease to exist once the Act is notified. No interviews will be allowed either.