Edu dept serves notices to 4 city schools for RTE violation

Jaipur: The state education department on Wednesday served notices to four schools in the city, claiming that they have violated a central provision of the Right to Education Act (RTE). The managements of the schools protested the notices and dubbed them as illegal.
The four schools – Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya (MSMSV), Neerja Modi School, Cambridge Court High School and St Edmunds Senior Secondary School – have failed to fill the mandatory 25 per cent of their students’ strength with economically weaker and marginal sections of society for the 2022-23 academic session even after being reminded several times, reads the notice.
These schools have now been given a “final chance” to admit 25 per cent of students under the RTE Act in the next three days or else face action from the department as per the relevant provisions of the law. “If the institutes failed to admit 25% students under the RTE Act, the process of withdrawing their NOCs will be initiated,” said an education department official. Not ensuring admission to 25 per cent students from economically weaker and marginal sections is a direct violation of rule 8 of the affiliation rules for schools, he added.
The notice also says that the four schools are in violation of the Rajasthan Non-Government Educational Institutes Act 1989 and 1993. “These schools were given warning letters on August 22 and asked to comply with the RTE provision, but they did not do it, and the department was forced to issue these notices,” said the official.
Board member of MSMSV and president of Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan, Damodar Prasad Goyal said, “Schools have always given in writing that they are ready to grant admissions in pre-primary class. The direction of the department is per se illegal and contrary to the provisions of the RTE Act and directions of Rajasthan High Court.”
Goyal added that since the schools have not violated any condition of the recognition, no action can be taken against them. “We are law-abiding educational institutions, and we cannot even think of violating the law,” said Goyal.