Patna, Nov. 23: Several city schools are buying time to bypass the norm of reserving 25 per cent seats for underprivileged children under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. They are delaying the admission process for the next session hoping the Supreme Court ruling on petitions challenging the act would be in their favour.

Schools under the Christian Educational Minority Society are confident that the decision of the Supreme Court would be in their favour. No school under the Christian Educational Minority Society has announced admission dates so far.

Institutions like Mary Ward Kindergarten (a wing of St Joseph’s Convent High School) and Carmel High School, which used to announce dates for admission in kindergarten (KG) I and Lower KG in November, have not done so till date.

Mary Ward Kindergarten has already put up a notice saying the dates for admission would be announced in January whereas Carmel High School has not announced the date as yet.

A. Dutta, the media co-ordinator at St Karen’s Secondary School, said: “The admission prospectus for Class I would be available from January 6. Earlier, the prospectus used to be released by December.”

Several schools under the Christian Educational Minority Society and Association of Independent Schools of Bihar said they would keep 25 per cent seats reserved for the underprivileged children but would not admit them until the decision of the Supreme Court arrives. Some institutions said they were providing education to underprivileged children and were not willing to admit any more under the 25 per cent category.

A source said: “The schools are extending the admission dates keeping in mind the 25 per cent seats for underprivileged children in Nursery or Class XI. Once the schools start the admission procedure, they would be pressurised by the state government for the same. Most of the schools do not want that.”

Registration threat

Some schools have decided to withdraw their application for registration if the Supreme Court verdict on petitions challenging the RTE Act came in their favour.