PIL threat to govt for poor execution of education act

RANCHI: Education activist and Supreme Court advocate Ashok Agarwal on Wednesday threatened to file a public interest litigation (PIL) against the Jharkhand government if it fails to ensure children from BPL families get the benefits of the Right to Education Act in private schools, or fails to frame rules to regulate fees. It was because of Agarwal's crusade and a string of PILs in the SC that the Centre came up with the Right to Education Act. He was in the city on a day's visit and had discussions regarding implementation of RTE in Jharkhand with the state representative of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Ganesh Reddy. "I was surprised that in the last three years the state government had done nothing to implement the RTE in the true spirit. The government was to ensure that there was a 25% enrolment of students from BPL families in all private schools. The indifferent attitude of the government has ruined the future of thousands of students," maintained Agarwal. He also asked the local office of the NCPCR to create pressure on the government for early formulation of rules to regulate fees in private schools. "The state government should pressure schools to keep at least 50 per cent parents in school management committees. Schools are not supposed to be profit-making concerns and so parents should be a part of managing committees. This way they can also be aware of all management decisions," said Agarwal. Reddy said they are contemplating filing a PIL with the help of Agarwal to ensure quality education to students in Jharkhand. "The state of schools here is very bad and Agarwal has promised to help us through a legal battle," said Reddy, adding that schools should ideally follow the model of Kendriya Vidyalaya. TIMES OF INDIA 21.03.2013