Patna district magistrate Jitendra Kumar Sinha at a meeting with school authorities at his office in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Jan. 23: The Association of Independent Schools, Bihar, has decided to move the court against the manner in which the Right to Education (RTE) Act is being implemented. Bihar Public Schools and Children Welfare Association has decided to back the association in the protest.

The school authorities had a meeting with district magis-trate Jitendra Kumar Sinha and district education officer Kiran Kumari on Sunday.

The school authorities are confused over how to go about the implementation of RTE directives like 25 per cent reservation of seats for underprivileged students and 75 per cent representation to guardians and social bodies in the managing committees. Schools are afraid that they would have to face undue pressure. The government has not clarified several things about the act. The schools though appreciate the move to reserve 25 per cent seat for underprivileged children, they want “rational implemen-tation”.

The Association of Independent Schools pushed for a regulatory authority to sort out the confusion and monitor the implementation of the directives.

The authority should have members from schools as well as the government, the association suggested.

The National Federation of Independent Schools of India had moved the Supreme Court last year with a plea to quash the act but the single-judge bench had rejected the petition. The federation again filed a petition saying that the plea should be heard by a larger bench. In the last hearing on January 18, the court said that the case would be disposed of in February itself so that admissions can take place on time.

District magistrate Sinha said: “We are the implementing agencies and we have to go by the orders.”

D.K. Singh, president of Bihar Public Schools and Children Welfare Association, said: “We have asked the district administration to make other arrangements. The move is good but why at the stake of 75 per cent students. Separate classes should be conducted for students given admission on reservation.”

Singh said if the act is implemented in without taking their objections into consideration, the association would move the court.

In the meeting today, J.R. Sharma, director and vice-president of the Association of Independent Schools of May Flower, said: “Coming from different social backgrounds, it may be a mental torture for the underprivileged children and they may get affected psychologically. Right from lunch boxes to other things, the 75 per cent and 25 per cent divide would always create a problem for the students.” Sharma added: “According to the act, no child up to Class VIII can be detained in the same class. On the other hand, there should be certain criteria to judge performance so that there is a fear of results among students and they study hard to get promoted.”

The provision of 75 percent representation to guardians of underprivileged students and social bodies in school’s managing committee is also bothering the authorities.

They fear the quality of education would suffer and the management of school would go haywire.

Rajiv Ranjan Sinha, principal, Baldwin Academy, said: “What about the uniforms of the underprivileged children? If the government is providing the uniforms and stationery, then by when would it be done? All schools will have different uniform and books. Would the government provide them accordingly? By when would this be done?”