Right to Education saves 85 students from losing a year

Eighty five students from the St Lawrence School in Santa Cruz got their seats back thanks to Right to Education (RTE) Act. Over 27 parents gathered outside the school on Monday to protest the expulsion of their children from the school.

The parents, demanding that school officials discuss the issue with them, used the RTE Act to get their children readmitted to the school.

Despite the RTE Act, which prohibits schools from failing students till Std VIII, around 85 students were handed leaving certificates by the school after they failed in the examinations.

“Not only did they refuse to promote our children, but also threw them out of the school. For more than 15 days, we have been fighting with the management. When we approached the school education authorities, they transferred our complaint from one department to another. Frustrated, we approached an NGO and decided to protest,” said Farhaz Rumani, a parent whose son was expelled for having failed in Std IV.

Several parents said the school was acting on an outdated government resolution (GR) that allowed schools to take a retest for failed students and promote those who pass the retest.

“My daughter failed the retest too and so they told us that they could not keep her in the school anymore,” said Parvin Shaikh, a parent.

“We had with us a copy of the RTE Act and we showed it to them. They said action was taken against the students before the RTE Act was implemented, and that they had told the parent of one student about it,” said Rajiv Patel, joint secretary, Forum for Fairness in Education.

However, after the protest, the school readmitted all 85 students and issued them textbooks and notebooks for the academic year.

“We have resolved the matter and do not wish to further comment on it,” said Shamina Jayakar, one of the school’s trustees.