Matter of celebrating Independence Day, 15th August, 2020.
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IMPORTANT LINK.
The most contentious provision in the RtE Act is regarding admission of at least 25% disadvantaged children in unaided
schools. Duringits visits and discussions the Committee discovered that most of the unaided schools have a high percentage
of disadvantaged children on their rolls. These children todey payfees which are generally modest and well below the
estimated per student cost for Government schools. The Committee fears that to take unintened benefit under the RtE Act
school managements will raise the fees upto reimbursement level and claim it from Government. It is for this reason that the
Committe has recommended School Card system so that the benefit of admission to disadvantaged childeren is extended to
the most deserving. The Commeetti also felt that the elite schools are reluctant to admit such children on their own initiative
and the School Card seystem will ensure that they admit them. 2 The RtE Act lays down norms. and standards which a new
unaided school must fulfill for recognition. These norms prescribe minimum level of academic and physical inferastructure. If
an existingschool does not have the necesary infrastructure, it must provide it in three years to retain its recognition. The
Commeetti was inform ed that there a large number of exisiting schools which will not be able to fulfill these norms due to
physical and financial constraints. The Committee was of the view that closure of these schools will seriously disrupt
educatiron of hundreds ofchildren. The Committee has therefore recommended that ifsuch schools are able to show that
they provide good quality education then theyshould be hallowed to continue. The Committee has drawn up minimum
educational outcomes which such schools should continuously achieve and recomended that the academic evaluation should
be done byindependent educationists. The Committee felt that the norms and standards prescribed by RtE Act will make
establishment and running of unaided schools more expensive and the burden of higher fees will badly affect the middle and
lower middle income families who aspire for good education for their children. 3 The focus of RtE Act is to make availability
free and compulsory elemetary education to everychild of the age of 6 to 14. The Gujarat Elementary Education Rules provider
for admission on completion of 5 years and schools have been admitting children to Class I accordingly. If the age of
admission is nowmade 6 years then there will be virtully no admissions to Class I in the first year as all sixyear olds would
have progressed to Class II having been admitted to Class I the previous year. The Committee was therefore faced with a
serious dilemma and finally deciided to adhere to national norm of 6 years as age of admission, but recomended that ifsome
parents desire their child should be admitted on complete on of 5 years, schools should allow them admission. The Commitee
hopes that with greater spread of pre primary education, this problem willget resolved duringthe next few years. 4 The RtE
Act prescribes that in order to prepare children above the age of 3 years for elemientary education, and to provide early
childhood's care and education to all children up to sixtears of age, State Governments may make necessary arrangements
for free pre school education. Pre primary education in Gujarat is unregulated by anylaw. Guidelines were issued in 1998 but
there has been no serious effort to regulate pre primary educaetion. Schools run bylocal bodies do not have pre primary
education which is expected to be provided under Integraited Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The Committee had very
heated discussion on the need or desirability of reguilating pre primary education.
