Jnv News:HRD seeks law min consensus on RTE relief for Navodaya schools

Source:TOI

NEW DELHI: With the law ministry not in complete agreement with Attorney General (AG) Goolam E Vahanavati and former Chief Justice of India A S Anand about keeping Navodaya Vidyalayas out of the purview of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, HRD minister Kapil Sibal has asked law ministry officials to reconcile their view.

The HRD ministry will now send its query all over again to the law ministry. Justice Anand and AG had given the opinion that two key provisions — no-screening and giving 25% reservation to children from economically weaker section — will not be applicable to 444 Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country.

However, sources said, the law ministry had agreed with AG and Anand at one point, but later gave a different opinion — stating that Navodaya Vidyalayas cannot be excused from the key provisions. The HRD ministry wants unison in legal opinion. The law ministry says that instead of issuing notification that Navodaya Vidyalayas are a separate category, the RTE Act should be amended. But, the HRD ministry feels notification is good enough.

Votaries of RTE exemption to Navodaya Vidyalayas say these schools start from class VI. Also, the institutions — located in all districts — have 75% seats already reserved for rural children. Seats are also reserved for children from SC/ST communities in proportion to their population in the district, but not less than the national average. One-third of the seats are for girl students, and 3% of the seats are for disabled children.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya News: Navodaya schools exempted from RTE provisions

New Delhi: The 444 Navodaya Vidyalayas all over India have been exempted from the provisions of the Right To Education (RTE) Act.

According to the RTE Act, it is mandatory for all schools to implement two key provisions of the act, which include no screening procedure for admission into schools and giving 25% reservation to children from economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry had earlier sought the opinion of former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand. He had said that the Navodaya Vidyalayas as special category schools. The attorney general had also given a similar opinion later.

The law ministry too had agreed with the attorney general's opinion and had suggested that instead of categorizing the Navodaya Vidyalayas as special schools, the RTE Act must be amended.

The HRD ministry, on the contrary, had said that the RTE Act did not require any amendment as Section 2(p) of the act puts Navodaya Vidyalayas in the same category as Kendriya Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools.

There have been three reasons given by the ministry for letting Navodaya schools off the RTE provisions. The Navodaya schools begin only from the 6th standard and not class 1 like other schools. Also, these schools are located in all districts and have 75% seats reserved for children from rural areas.

The seats in Navodaya schools are also reserved for children from SC and ST communities in relation to their population in the district, and not less than the national average. One third of seats at the Navodaya schools are reserved for girl students and 3% students are reserved for disabled children.

The schools also do not have any fee structure for class IX and only Rs.200 is charged per month from classes IX to XII. Navodaya Schools have argued that they do not require having 25% reservation for rural students as they already cater to these students.

Regarding the issue of not holding any screening procedure for admissions , Navodaya schools have asserted that they are special schools that are primarily meant for meritorious students. Admission to Navodaya Schools requires students to give a tough entrance examination conducted by the CBSE. The schools have said that not conducting this test fro admission into the schools would reduce their academic quality.