Patna, March 18: The rules of Right to Education (RTE) Act have been laid, but not everyone is in a mood to follow them.

Several schools in the state capital have allegedly flouted the norms, which have been laid in the act that has been making headlines ever since it came into being.

The defiance of norms has not gone down too well with the Bihar State Child Rights Protection Commission. The commission has formed a three-member committee, which would decide the course of action to be taken against the schools that have flouted norms.

On Friday, it was made clear that the RTE Act applies to all schools, irrespective of any affiliation to any board (ICSE/CBSE). Even those schools, which have till class VI, come under the act.

The commission has received several complaints against certain schools, which claimed of not coming under the act as they were not affiliated to any board or they did not have classes up to Class X.

The chairperson of Bihar State Child Rights Protection Commission, Nisha Jha, said: “Many schools have approached us saying they are unaffiliated. Some even said they do not have beyond Class VI. We informed them that the act is applicable even for them.”

Jha said: “While giving affiliation (for ICSE/CBSE), it will be checked whether a school implemented the act in 2011 or not. That is, we would take notice of whether 25 per cent of the seats in Nursery and Class I were reserved for the underprivileged children or not.”

Elaborating on the action that would be taken on the schools that have refuted the norm, Jha said: “The commission has already formed a three-member committee among which one is district education officer (DEO). The other will be a member from the commission. The commission is yet to take a decision on the third.

A few days back, parents lodged an FIR against St Xavier’s High School. The school had invited them for the random selection procedure, but when the parents went to the school, the list of selected candidates was already put up.

Principal of the school, Father George Nedumattam, however, said the lottery was conducted in front of the executive committee members of the parents-teachers’ association. Complaints have also come up that several schools have conducted tests and/or interviews, which is against the act.