BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi. Facts prove that Muslim students find it hard to get admission in private schools of Delhi but Delhi Chief Minister finds it hard to acknowledge that there is any Discrimination in admission procedure of private schools.
In reply to letter written by Mr. Abdul Khaliq (Secretary General, Lok Janshakti Party) complaining about denial of admissions to Muslim students by private schools, Delhi CM Shiela Dikshit has said that private schools follow directions as set by Ashok Ganguly Committee in admission process and there is no reason to believe that schools allow discrimination on basis of caste, creed or religion.
CM has also emphasized that the education standard of government schools in Delhi is raised significantly during last five years and there is focus on Urdu education as well.
Read full text of CM’s letter here…
Dear Abdul Khaliq Ji,
Please refer to your letter No. LJP/SG/1634 dated 17-03-2012. The importance of education in shaping the individual and society hardly needs to be emphasized. With respect to the issues raised in your letter regarding education in the capital city, I must state that the position and facts should be seen on a holistic basis so that correct conclusions are drawn.
Government of Delhi in the past few years has taken a series of concrete steps to raise the standard of education in its schools and it is no longer correct to say that quality education is imparted in private schools only. Increased enrolment in government schools in the last few of years and improved performance of the government schools stand testimony to this. Many of the government schools have been performing even better than private schools and data on pass percentage of last five years result of class X and XII proves this beyond all doubts. You will appreciate that achievement of government schools becomes more significant in view of the fact that admission in our schools is without any restrictions or conditions.
There has been an 18% improvement in result –from 80% in 2010 to 98.05% in 2011, of class-X in 17 government schools having Urdu as medium of instruction. GNCT of Delhi is not only focusing on government schools where Urdu is a medium of instruction but is also promoting Urdu as a subject by creating 109 new posts of Urdu teachers as against 264 Urdu teachers already working with the Directorate of Education.
I would like to point out that the liberty given to the private schools to devise their admission criteria within the laid down parameters for General Category seats is based on the recommendations of the Ashok Ganguly Committee Report. The Committee deliberated the issue in detail with all the stakeholders and made certain recommendations which formed the basis of current admission procedure. There are no reasons to believe that this policy developed after extensive consultation with various stakeholders allows schools to discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion.
Ministry of Human Resource Development, vide letter No. F. No. 1-15/2010-EE-4 dated 10-12-2010 with regard to admission guidelines, clarified that “The guideline does not specify any category nor does it lay down any cap on any category identified by a school. Schools are free to identify any category based on policy/principles that are fair, just and reasonable within the ambit of the RTE Act and the guidelines referred to above and placed in public domain for implementing the admissions in schools”.
The order of the Directorate of Education regarding admission procedure, dated 24-11-2007, wherein it was ordered that prior approval of Directorate of Education would be required for admission criteria has been stayed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in SLP (C) No. CC 12744 & 12862/2007 vide Order dated 14-12-2007. Further, as per Right to Education Act, 2009 admission/screening test can not be conducted.
I would also like to add here that so far as admission to 25% of seats earmarked for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) is concerned, the admission criteria on the basis of points are not adopted. Admission is made strictly on neighborhood criteria by draw of lots wherever the applications are more than the number of seats. The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in its judgment dated 31-01-2012 in W.P. (C) No. 636/2012 and W.P. (C) No. 40/2012 prescribed guidelines for neighbourhood criteria for EWS admission. With respect to Economically Weaker Section students since the selection is based on draw of lots from the catchment area, there is no scope for any discrimination.
In every for a our Government has been encouraging children to come to schools specially those belonging to the minorities and there has been fairly remarkable improvement in enrolment. I understand it is nearly 16% as of now.
You should also know that our Government has recently enhanced the ceiling of family income for eligibility of merit scholarship for students from minority communities form 1.00 lac to 2.00 lac. Financial assistance for purchase of stationery to such students studying in primary section i.e class 1st to 5th has been increased @ 100/- per month. The financial assistance of 45/- to such students of classes 6th to 8th has been enhanced to 100/- per month and in respect of classes 9th to 12th from 75/- to 200/-. The merit scholarship has significantly been increased for students in class 11th to 12th, from 1620/- to 3000/- for students having secured 55% to 70% of marks and from 2040/- to 4500/- for students having secured marks above 70%.
As stated above we have shown impressive performance in school education. This Government is committed to ensure that educational facilities are provided to students irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or gender. Any concrete suggestion to further improve our school education, is most welcome.
With Regards,
Sheila Dikshit
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http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/03/muslim-students-discriminated-in-delhis-private-school/
http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/03/discrimination-against-muslim-children/
