The Bombay High Court has observed that Jnana Prabodhini school has violated the Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009 for the academic year 2013-14 and hence from next year onwards no screening test should be conducted by the school.
The bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dhere and Justice AS Oka ruled that this year’s admissions will not be cancelled.
Meanwhile, the school has sent a proposal to the education minister requesting him to include the school in the list of special schools exempted from implementing the RTE.
As per RTE Act, no screening test should be conducted and no capitation fee taken from students taking admissions from Std I to VIII. Jnana Prabodhini had conducted a screening test to admit students to Std V.
They had argued before the court that the “school is a special school, which has introduced new ideas. It is contended that for giving admissions to such school, conduct of test of intelligence is unavoidable.”
However, the High Court observed, “We direct that the admissions granted to Std V shall not be cancelled in the midst of the present academic year.”
The court also ruled that the school should conduct admissions as per the RTE Act from the next academic year.
“We make it clear that the students who are admitted to Std V during this academic year shall not be required to again secure admission to the same class next year,” they stated in the verdict.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Jnana Prabodhini.
Milind Naik, principal of Jnana Prabodhini said, “Our school comes under the provision of special school. We had sent a letter to the HRD minister asking for exemption from the rules under RTE Act which says no to the screening process.”
He said that if the school is recognised as a special school by the state government since education is a state subject, it can be put on a list along with schools like Military School that are exempted from RTE rules.
“We have sent a letter to school education minister Rajendra Darda asking for including our school on the list of special schools. Once we receive an answer, we will decide our next step,” said Naik.
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