30 APRIL 2011 - ALL INDIA PROTEST AGAINST ARBITRARY FEE HIKE IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS

ALL INDIA PARENTS ASSOCIATION (AIPA) CALLS UPON ALL THE PARENTS TO ORGANISE ALL INDIA PROTEST AGAINST ARBITRARY FEE HIKE IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND APATHY OF GOVERNMENTS TOWARDS STATE RUN SCHOOLS ON 30 APRIL 2011 FROM 10 AM TO 1 PM - Parents in many States & Districts all over India will stage coordinated Protests on 30 April 2011 against exploitation by Private Unaided Schools & apathy of Governments towards State run Schools. Parents in Delhi will stage a peaceful protest rally at Jantar Mantar from 10 am to 1 pm. PARENTS DEMAND (i) ENACTMENT OF A CENTRAL LAW TO REGULATE FEES IN UNAIDED PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND (ii) UPGRADE ALL GOVENMENT SCHOOLS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO THE LEVEL OF KENDRIYA VIDYALAYAS (CENTRAL SCHOOLS). Contact AIPA National President Advocate Ashok Agarwal at M-09811101923 or/and at Email juristashok@gmail.com

“Alwar: Feeling the Pulse of the Right to Education Act at the Grassroots" A Report by Nisha Tomar

On the occasion of completion of one year of the RTE Act implementation, activist lawyer Mr. Ashok Agarwal, along with two students of Faculty of Law, Nisha (myself) and Neenu Suresh, went to Alwar to analyse the ground realities. We visited four villages in Kishangarh tehsil, Distt.Alwar, and what we got to see was a mixed picture of the sensitization and excitement among people on one hand and the apathy of the govt. on the other.

Alwar-Mewat Institute of Education and Development, an NGO based in Alwar has been doing a commendable job for improving the educational scene in the Mewat region. Empowered by the provisions of the RTE Act and under the guidance and motivation of AMIED, the people’s participation and interest in elementary education in Mewat is at an exemplary level and deserves to be seen as a model for the rest of the country. On August 15, 2010, School Management Committee elections were held in the region under the RTE Act. Rajasthan is the first state wherein the elections of functional SMCs under RTE Act have taken place and we were told that the people showed tremendous enthusiasm in the process.

Under the RTE Act, hundreds of schools in the state have been upgraded to the secondary level, but the appointment of teachers has not taken place as mandated under the act. There is paucity of subject-teachers, as well as the teacher-pupil ratio remains extremely skewed, particularly in the Mewat region of Rajasthan. The system is also suffering from lack of infrastructure, as the school-buildings are not as per the norms and many schools are short of land for expanding the building, constructing more classrooms and having play-grounds. The requisite furniture mandated under the Schedule of RTE Act is also not available in the schools. It is these deficiencies against which the villagers are struggling and since their enthusiasm is nascent and fragile and many of them are new to fighting for a cause, it is important that the govt. breaks its apathy so that their enthusiasm does not get nipped in the bud. For there is a great danger of the people getting frustrated and if so happens, it would be tough to resurrect a fresh movement for education. Every collective endeavour of the local masses in this direction, made after sidelining personal mutual differences, deserves constant encouragement and redressal.

In the first village that we visited, the school runs in a small building with just two classrooms, with 2 teachers, despite having an enrolment of over 300 children and having been upgraded to the secondary level. The school office doubles up at the kitchen for mid-day meals. There is a hand-pump attached to the school, but it does not draw any water. The SMC has been struggling to get the title of a vacant land in the village changed so that the school can be shifted and a building constructed there, but with the govt. officials not being cooperative, they are stuck in the labyrinth of procedures and red-tape. The effort made by the SMC head, who is a parent of a child in the school, is remarkable in that he has gone to a great extent in trying to uncover the mysterious route, but got stuck at an apparent dead-end. Interactions with the children reveal their lack of confidence in being able to speak up in front of outsiders, besides a peculiar tendency of the girl-students to hide themselves away, which is characteristic of the young girls in the area, probably due to the custom requiring women to cover their heads, and at places, even faces for married women. Even very young girls in the village, of four to five years of age can be seen with their heads covered, at some places.

From there we move on to our next village Ghatika. About forty people assembled at a residence in the village, with kids peeping from outside. The gathering included, besides the AMIED members, SMC members, other parents and local women. Discussion began on the working of the SMC in the village school. From what came out of the status report given by the SMC officials, one is tempted to indulge in an exaggerated faith in the efficacy of participatory democracy. The SMC has done exemplary work in managing the grants available as well as in tightening the noose upon erring teachers. Not only this, the SMC also staged a lock-out of the school for several days when one of the three available teachers was deputed to some other place, leaving the school with only two teachers. Succumbing under the pressure, the govt. officials had to send a replacement to their school. When the late-coming teachers didn’t heed to their warnings, they began marking them as absentees, and within two days, they managed to ensure punctuality of teachers in the school. The grants that they received were utilized by them for buying furniture and mats for the school, getting the school painted and out of another small grant that they received, sufficient for school-dresses for only six children, they used their prudence to get school-dresses stitched for fifteen students. When the school hand-pump began to pump polluted water, they got another hand-pump sanctioned which would be put up by next month. They also have an additional grant of Rs.20, 000 available with them, with which they will get a ramp constructed. The SMC officials told us how the school-staff tries to breed factionalism among the villagers to break their unity and even offer bribes to some of them, but they are not ready to barter away their rights for anything.

We shared our experiences from other parts of the country to boost their morale, and energized by the positivity of their small success-stories, we moved to our next destination, the panchayat-ghar of ….to discuss the problems of the school there. After having a discussion on the position of recruitment of teachers by the state, which is slow enough to render another academic session futile, we moved towards the next village on our agenda, not without some adventure in between as our car got stuck in the sand and had to be towed by a tractor while we were escorted in the Sarpanch’s car to the village school. The climax Overs of the first innings of the ICC World Cup final were being telecast live and we could see the people hooked to the few TV sets in the villages, as we were passing through the lanes of the village, but as we reached the school court-yard large number of people assembled within no time, forgoing the excitement of the Match. We were told that the school has not been receiving any aid from the govt. which it is entitled to receive under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan. The school as usual lacks the requisite number of teachers, particularly subject-teachers. The children who want to opt for Urdu as a third language are being denied their right on the grounds of unavailability of teachers and are being constrained to opt for Sanskrit. However the availability of teachers for Sanskrit is no better. There is a complete absence of subject teachers for key subjects such as Mathematics, Sciences, English etc. The villagers were beginning to show signs of disheartenment and as we told them that the situation in Delhi isn’t that better, they remarked “Agar wahin aisa hai toh yahan kya hoga” (if such is the state of affairs in the capital, what better can we expect here). But we told them not to lose hope and keep up their spirits and struggle. Soon, they recovered their enthusiasm as one of them remarked “Mevu jis cheez ke peechhe pad jaye use kar ke chhodta hai” (If a Mewati resolves to achieve something, he achieves it unfailingly.). they also added that this quality is secular, and applies to all the communities. Hence, the interaction ended on a positive note.

Our next visit was lined up for a bridge-course camp being run with the aid of civil society. It was an all-girls residential camp for three months, housing girls of varied ages. Although it wasn’t a very well-furnished facility, the commitment of the volunteers had created an environment of learning with joy. One of the things that caught my attention there was the charts on the walls, some of them expressing the children’s idea of a dream-school. It is worthwhile to train young minds to go beyond what ‘is’ towards envisaging what ‘ought’, and in my view, asking them to write essays on ‘My Dream-school’ rather than’ My School’, is one of the ways of doing so. For the present is not the ideal, nor the end of the road.

The following day there was a workshop for social activists and lawyers on the Right to Education, chaired by Mr. Ashok Agarwal. The event opened with some thought-provoking group-songs sung by the AMIED volunteers. The lyrics of one of them caught my attention “Mere sapno ko jaanane ka haq hai, kyon barson se toot rahe hain…” (My dreams are entitled to know why they are being shattered for years). The focus was on the emerging education-law and the lawyers’ role. Mr. Agarwal spoke, among other things, on how the RTE Act empowers those affected to go for an ordinary civil remedy, in addition to the option of invoking of the writ jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226. As the discussion proceeded, there was a growing interest and enthusiasm among the listeners and the talk became more participative. The situation of skewed teacher-pupil ratio in schools, the problem of unrecognized schools and their treatment in the RTE Act and the provision for free-ship of 25% seats for the disadvantaged readily generated the listeners’ interest.

It seems that the RTE Act has awakened the people and the interest in the Right to Education is at an unprecedented level all over the country. But it is the state, mandated under the Act to shoulder the responsibility of universal elementary education, which is still lagging behind. The small peoples’ movements for RTE mushrooming in different parts of the country need to be strengthened and interlinked, so as to speed up the implementation of the RTE Act.

PRIVATE SCHOOL ON PUBLIC LAND DENIES REPORT CARD TO CLASS VIII EWS STUDENT

SOCIAL JURIST
A Civil Rights Group
25/03/2010
To,

The Deputy Director of Education
Govt. of NCT of Delhi
Vikaspuri, New Delhi-18

Dear Madam/ Sir

Shri Harish Chand r/o Jg 2/524 Vikaspuri, New Delhi (M-9311829107) has complained to me that his daughter Jaya Budhiraja has been studying in Banasthali Public School, G Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi-18 since 2004-05 under EWS category and presently she has appeared in class VIII examinations in the academic session 2010-11 and despite results been declared on 22/03/2011, the Report Card has not given to her daughter Jaya. The reason is: the school is illegally asking the parents to pay a sum of Rs. 4,500/- to wards fees. Since the parents have refused it meet the said illegal demand of the school, the school has denied Report Card to the student. A complaint by the parent in attached hereto.

It is a serious matter. The action of the school management is not only contrary to the provisions of Delhi School Education Act, 1973 but also tantamount to contempt of Hon’ble Delhi High Court.

Kindly take immediate action in this matter directing the school to forthwith handover the Report Card Jaya Budhiraja without insisting for payment of any money.

With regard

Ashok Agarwal
Advocate
Advisor, Social Jurist
M-9811101923

PRIVATE SCHOOL ON PUBLIC LAND DENIES REPORT CARD TO CLASS VIII EWS STUDENT

SOCIAL JURIST
A Civil Rights Group

25/03/2010
To,

The Deputy Director of Education
Govt. of NCT of Delhi
Vikaspuri, New Delhi-18


Dear Madam/ Sir


Shri Harish Chand r/o Jg 2/524 Vikaspuri, New Delhi (M-9311829107) has complained to me that his daughter Jaya Budhiraja has been studying in Banasthali Public School, G Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi-18 since 2004-05 under EWS category and presently she has appeared in class VIII examinations in the academic session 2010-11 and despite results been declared on 22/03/2011, the Report Card has not given to her daughter Jaya. The reason is: the school is illegally asking the parents to pay a sum of Rs. 4,500/- to wards fees. Since the parents have refused it meet the said illegal demand of the school, the school has denied Report Card to the student. A complaint by the parent in attached hereto.

It is a serious matter. The action of the school management is not only contrary to the provisions of Delhi School Education Act, 1973 but also tantamount to contempt of Hon’ble Delhi High Court.

Kindly take immediate action in this matter directing the school to forthwith handover the Report Card Jaya Budhiraja without insisting for payment of any money.


With regard


Ashok Agarwal
Advocate
Advisor, Social Jurist
M-9811101923

EMPLOYEES TERMINATION HELD MALICIOUS - DELHI SCHOOL TRIBUNAL IMPOSES RUPEES FOUR LACS COSTS ON UNAIDED SCHOOL

In an unprecedented order, Delhi School Tribunal headed by Shri N.P.Kaushik has imposed costs of Rs. 4 lacs on Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan since the school was found to have acted malafide in terminating the services of its four employees. The Tribunal in its order of 28 February 2011 said, “Perusal of the whole of the ACRs of the Appellants shows that they have been shown as either ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ in various columns relating to their performance and personality traits. In the first ACRs, the Reviewing Officer i.e. the Principal of the School recommended for extension of probation as a matter of routine. In the ACRs for subsequent year their confirmation on due date has been recommended. Recommending extension of probation as “a matter of routine” goes to show that the same was not done on merits. It was done with an ulterior motive. It further shows that the employer had made up its mind to dispense with the services of the employees without assessing his/her performance……………It clearly goes to show that the employer had adopted the policy of “hire and fire”. The Tribunal directed the school to reinstate the employees in services with benefit of full back wages.

RIGHT TO EDUCATON - NEED TO REACH UNREACHED

An educated Mahtab tracked my contact through internet and contacted me on telephone day before yesterday night telling me that in his relation, four students (siblings) have been kept out of school by an unaided private school of Delhi as the parents were unable to afford school fees and moreover, the school had been refusing to issue TCs. I asked him to come to my office next day morning. Mahtab came to my office along with the students and their mother. The parent and the students narrated me the entire disgusting tale as to how the school management persecuted them during the last three years continuously because they were unable to afford the school fees any more. The school denied those TCs saying that they must first clear entire outstanding fees.

I noted that the parents and the students had been undergoing mental agony and harassment in silence at the hands of the greedy private school for the last three years as they were totally unaware of their rights and also the platform where they could approach for the help. When they came to my office, they were under the impression that they had to pay to me for my services. A sign of relief was quite visible on their faces when I told that all of my services would be totally free of cost. It is a story of the students residing in the National Capital Delhi. One can image as to what would be situation in other parts of the country.

The point I would like to make here is that there is a tremendous need of reaching to the unreached. The children and the parents at large are in need of help from the persons like us. It cannot be delayed or ignored if we are serious about realization of their basic human and fundamental rights like, right to education. The masses don’t expect economic benefits from us nor is it possible for us to provide them with the same. What they need is; moral support, guidance and a platform where they can agitate for realization of their rights. I would request to all my friends to take out some time from their busy schedule to reach to the unreached to make a difference.

Ashok Agarwal, Advocate

March 20, 2011

M-09811101923

GOOD NEWS FOR SMALL PRIVATE SCHOOLS

– An interesting query came from a small private school of Delhi that even if the school does not get any student under general category in the nursery class (Entry Class), can it still take admissions of students under DG/ EWS category as mandated under RTE Act, 2009? The second interesting query of this school was as to what would be limit of admissions of the students under DG/EWS category? After I received these queries, I examined the relevant provisions of the RTE Act, 2009 and found that under Section 12 (1) (c) of the Act the minimum limit of 25% has been prescribed and there is no upper limit for the admission of the students under DG/EWS category. It is very clear from the provisions of the Act that whatever percentage/number of students are admitted by a school under DG/EWS category, the government would be obliged to reimburse expenditure for the same. In other words, the Act provides an opportunity to the private schools to admit as many students as possible from DG/EWS category at the entry level class and to get reimbursement of expenditure from the government.

Ashok Agarwal, Advocate

M-09811101923