Schools admit 100 poor kids under quota rule

In the first year of the implementation of the reservation policy under the Right to Education Act, about 100 students have got admission to city schools under the 25% quota for economically weaker sections, said Sanjay Deshmukh, director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is in charge of enforcing the act.

In the first year of the implementation of the reservation policy under the Right to Education Act, about 100 students have got admission to city schools under the 25% quota for economically weaker sections, said Sanjay Deshmukh, director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is in charge of enforcing the act.

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“Education officers from the civic body have informed me close to 100 students in the city have received admissions under the quota,” said Deshmukh, who organised a meeting with city education inspectors on Wednesday to discuss the limitations of implementing the RTE Act this year. “I have asked education inspectors to make a list of schools that have implemented the act this year.”

Deshmukh said the education department would strive to better implement provisions of the RTE Act from next year. “I wanted to know what problems arose in implementing the act, so we can strengthen our guidelines from the next academic year,” said Deshmukh.

“One of the biggest problems we faced was of not taking into consideration the varying admission schedules for schools under different education boards,” said Deshmukh. “From next year, we will try to be more flexible to match the admission schedules of all schools,” he said.

Under the Right to Education Act, all private unaided schools, except minority institutions, were instructed to reserve 25% seats at the entry level for students whose family’s annual income was less than Rs. 1 lakh.

Several schools in the city, such as Bhavan’s AH Wadia High School, Andheri, Mount Mary High School, Goregaon, and Bangur Nagar Vidya Bhavan, Goregaon, have admitted students under the quota from the current academic year.

“We are glad our efforts have paid off,” said Avisha Kulkarni from Desh Seva Samiti, a not-for-profit that has helped several locals in Goregaon in get admission to schools.