In violation of RTE Act, School fails students

Hume McHenry school principal says he's not sure if provisions of right to education law apply to ICSE schools

Hume McHenry school principal says he's not sure if provisions of right to education law apply to ICSE schools

In an action that makes a mockery of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, authorities at Salisbury Park's Hume McHenry Memorial High School failed more than a dozen students from the primary section on the basis of their poor performance.


Parents, whose children were failed in class II, gather outside the Hume
McHenry Memorial High School yesterday.u00a0Pic/Jignesh Mistry

One of the provisions of the RTE Act is that students can not be failed up to Std VIII. School Principal Bakul Bhosale, however, said the school had not deliberately violated the law and it just wanted to show parents how their children had fared. He added that he was not sure whether, like SSC schools, even ICSE schools were supposed to adhere to the no-failing rule.


A copy of the report card

The report cards of Std I and Std II students were given to the parents on Monday. After taking a look, many of them found their children were shown to have scored below-average marks and that they had been 'detained' in the same standard. The parents said this meant the school had refused their children promotion to a higher class.

MiD DAY spoke to many such parents and they had a similar story to tell."My son had 85 per cent attendance in class. Besides that, I paid double the amount of fees for private tuitions within the school premises. My son was still failed in the final exam. Firstly, isn't it the school's mistake and a shortcoming in its teaching that despite spending so many hours my son didn't learn anything? Moreover, when the law of the land states that they cannot fail my child, how dare they do so?" said a livid Suchitra Kshirsagar, whose son Prem was detained in Std II.

Another parent, Kanchan Khude from Katraj, said her daughter Sanika was also detained in the same class. She alleged that school authorities refused to even speak to the parents.

"We tried meeting the school authorities, but we were asked to go away. My daughter couldn't appear for the unit tests as she was hospitalised, but all her terminal marks were improving. How could they punish her for falling sick even after I submitted her medical reports?" she said.

Parents allege the school had done all this deliberately as it wanted to admit fresh students in a bid to collect the hefty admission fees of Rs 25,000 from every new student.

The parents also approached education authorities, right from the deputy director of education to the officials at the Pune Municipal Corporation, but not much came of it for a long time.

Show-cause notice
Finally, late last evening, Ramchandra Jadhav, the PMC's education officer, confirmed that heu00a0 had sent a show-cause notice to the school.

"We have informed the school that it has committed a direct and serious violation of the RTE Act. We have asked it to correct the situation in seven days and promote the students, or else we will send a proposal to the state government to write to the board concerned and cancel the school's authority," said Jadhav.

More violations
Assessment
The RTE Act provides for continuous assessment of students in the form of internal exams of 20 marks each as well as oral exams, among other things. The old pattern of conducting exams has to be discontinued, but the school continues to conduct two unit tests and two semester exams. When this was pointed out, Bhosale replied that he did not think these rules applied to ICSE schools. "If they do, the board hasn't informed us," he said.
Private tuitions
Another shocking fact that came to the forefront was that the school allowed its teachers to take private tuitions of students within the school premises. Parents complained that they paid anything between Rs 800 and Rs 1,000 a month as compulsory private tuition fees - no receipt was given - to teachers. "If we didn't do so, they deliberately harassed our children, isolated them and insulted them," said a parent.

The Other Side
School Principal Bakul Bhosale said the school had committed an error which was not deliberate. "We merely wished to let the parents know the true picture that their children were weak. Then, if parents agreed, we would continue them in the same year and allow them to improve. Or, if a students' background means they can't cope, parents usually ask us to allow them to switch schools. In some cases, parents insist on continuing, so if they are willing to take the risk we allow students to be promoted to the next class," he said. When it was pointed out that the report cards had been printed showing the students as failed, which was in direct violation of the RTE Act, he said he had made a special interpretation of the RTE Act. "We were going to implement the rule, though we haven't received any instructions from the ICSE board. I believe these rules are okay for SSC schools, but I am not sure of the extent to which these apply to ICSE schools. As far as these students go, we will pass them if the parents insist," he said. Bhosale also admitted that his teachers were allowed to take private tuitions on the school premises. "The parents never complained about it. In fact, they had asked for it," he said. When asked if the school conducted extra classes for weak students, he denied it, stating that weak students were coached by teachers in private tuitions on payable basis.

Capitation fees
PMC education officer Ramchandra Jadhav yesterday sent a notice to the authorities at Loyola School over the alleged collection of capitation fees by the institution. According to a complaint by parents to the PMC, the school was demanding Rs 5,000 as contribution for building fund from each student. On the basis of the complaint, Jadhav issued the notice demanding an explanation.