Chennai School urges Parents to protest against RTE
Chennai : Admitting poor students may bring down
discipline and the quality of education and also demoralize teachers, says Sri Sankara
Senior Secondary School. In a circular issued to students by the Adyar-based school,
principal Subala Ananthanarayanan has linked a student's performance to his/her
economic status and asked parents to protest against the
Right to Education Act.
The circular said that under the Act, the school would have no choice but to admit
students from poor families, which would pull down its standards. Ananthanarayanan
urged parents to "protest and fight" against the
Act. Suggesting that the state's decision to implement it from the coming year could
force the school to increase fees, she asked parents to appeal to the state and
the Centre not to implement the Act in its present form.
The law makes it obligatory on the state governments and local bodies to ensure
that every child gets education in a neighbourhood school. The district education
officer can admit 25% of poor children living nearby to any private school as per
the Act. According to it, if a child around nine years old has never been to school,
he/she must be admitted to the fourth standard after some training. The schools
cannot refuse admission, and must provide education free of cost.
"These rules will be damaging to the class and the entire
school, and therefore to your child's education," the circular said.
The circular says that the act should not be implemented as it denies the school
the powers to discipline or detain a child and choose the medium of education. The
school states that it would be under constant legal threat and harassment from government.
"All this will make all schools perform exactly like government schools in quality
and discipline. Is this why we have admitted our children in this or any good school?"
the circular asks.
It tells parents that their quality of education will suffer as teachers will have
a difficult time managing and educating a few children, who are not qualified for
the particular class, or who are very difficult to manage. "Most of the teachers'
attention, time and energy will go toward educating and managing these children,
as the school and teacher are held responsible, under the act."
Courtesy: Times of India
