Banka had sought details of the number of students admitted by various schools under the RTE Act for 2015-16 and the penalties imposed in cases of schools not adhering to the norms.
Some city schools are in deep red when it comes to implementing the Right to Education Act, as per an RTI application filed by NMIMS law college student Nishita Banka. Over and above, they have not even been penalised because the government is yet to set up the account where the fine amount will be deposited.
Banka had sought details of the number of students admitted by various schools under the RTE Act for 2015-16 and the penalties imposed in cases of schools not adhering to the norms.
As per the information provided, 453 schools were supposed to take in 9,838 children under the Act, but only 1,357 were given seats. These were in pre-primary and Std I. As many as 274 schools did not take in even one student.
Only one school admitted students as per RTE norms — IIT Campus School. However, details of the school's location were not provided by the education department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that looks after private schools.
"Only one in 453 schools has respected the law in toto. It is a shame on our schools, the BMC and the state for making a joke of this," said Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner, who was key in pursuing NMIMS to have the RTI Act in the curriculum of third-year law students.
"As part of their coursework, they had been asked to file one RTI each. It was found that only about 50% RTI applications got the information sought. The balance have had to file complaints and first appeals," said Gandhi, ruing the poor way in which the RTI Act is functioning in the state.
"Why they claim that 80% applications are given information I do not understand."
State education minister Vinod Tawde was not available for comment.
Banka said, "We have a law but no implementation. In India, we do not have any penalties. The government needs to change that. The Act was passed years ago, yet it is visible only on paper."
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