Deepanshu with his father, holding the documents. (Source: Express Photo)
Deepanshu cleared his Class V examinations from a municipal school at Pul Prahladpur in south Delhi. As he was transferred to a Delhi government school, he and his father went to the school for admission into Class VI. However, he was denied admission, despite having an Aadhaar card. Officials at the Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School, Railway Colony No 2, Prahladpur, told them that it was done so because he does not have a residential proof of Delhi. Deepanshu lives in a village in Faridabad, Haryana.
“My son has studied at the municipal school in the same area, I don’t know why is he being denied admission now. I live within a one-kilometre radius of the school. From marksheet to Aadhaar card, I have everything. Still my son was refused admission,” said Dinesh, the father, who works as a security guard at a hotel. Both the father and the son have Aadhaar cards. But the address on the cards is of their village in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. “I don’t know what to do now. I am told that there is a rule that if a student lives within a three-kilometre radius of the school, he/she cannot be denied admission. There is no one who wants to listen to us,” said Dinesh.
The Right To Education (RTE) Act 2009 has a provision that schools have to admit children living in the neighbourhood. The Act also states that no child can be denied admission for not having a document. Meanwhile, school authorities said a child must have a residential proof for admission. “We have asked him to make a bank account. With that as a proof, we can accept his admission plea. It becomes a problem for us if we do not fill in all details. The online system will not allow the procedure to move ahead,” said Rakesh Kumar Sharma, principal of the school.
However, Dinesh is even struggling to get a bank account. Seeing his helplessness, Sunil Kumar Aledia of the Centre for Holistic Development has written to Education Minister Manish Sisodia. “Sir, just because the child lives on the border, can he be denied admission? The child is out of school since April and he belongs to a backward community. This has affected him. Please intervene in this matter and help him,” the letter to Sisodia stated.
