RTE violation: Bhavan yet to submit undertaking

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18

Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, is yet to submit an undertaking, stating it will not violate the Right to Education (RTE) Act to the Education Department, sources said.

According to the Education Department, a fine of Rs 25,000 was slapped on the school for conducting an entrance test for admission to Class VI in violation of Section 13 of the RTE Act. The school was also asked to submit an undertaking that there would be no violation of any provisions of the Act.

The school had displayed a merit list of students admitted in Class VI through the entrance test held earlier this year.

However, the school did not scrap the admission process. Its official website still displays the merit list of students.

In 2016 as well, the school was served a show-cause notice by the department for releasing an advertisement containing entrance test details for Class VI.

The school this year admitted that it conducted the entrance test by inferring the RTE Amendment Bill, 2019, which gives the right to conduct entrance for Class VI. However, the amended bill only introduces detention for Classes V and VIII, which was earlier prohibited under Section 16 of the RTE Act.

Education Secretary BL Sharma said, “We will again ask the school to submit an undertaking that there will be no violation of RTE provisions.”

Meanwhile, Principal Vineeta Arora did not respond to the query despite repeated attempts.

School charged Rs 600 for test

A parent, who had applied for the entrance test, said, “The school charged Rs 100 for admission form and later also, they charged Rs 500. On the day of the entrance exam, more than 1,000 students appeared. This implies that the school earned around Rs 6 lakh from parents. Giving a fine of Rs 25,000 is nothing for a school in lieu of profits in lakhs. We even contacted the school to ask whether they will revoke the admissions. The person at the reception said the school would continue with the admissions. Another parent whose ward was selected told me that the school has charged Rs 75,000 as admission fee.”

The Chandigarh Parents’ Association (CPA) has demanded cancellation of admissions and refund of admission fee to the parents.

“Twenty five rupees is not a condoning fee for violating the law but a penalty to ensure that the violation is not repeated. The school must be forced to submit the undertaking. Also, the entrance is indeed illegal and has to be declared void. The school must be directed to scrap the test and refund the fee collected from all applicants,” said Nitin Goyal, president of association.