New Delhi, Dec. 13: The Right to Education Act is likely to be amended for the second time within a year of its implementation to allow Navodaya Vidyalaya schools to continue with admission tests.

The law says that no school will screen students or parents for admission. But after the law ministry and attorney-general G.E. Vahanvati gave their opinion in favour of continuing with the tests at the specialised schools for poor meritorious students, the law is likely to be amended to exempt the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti from the ban on screening.

The samiti, which runs the Navodaya schools, had written to the HRD ministry seeking special permission to continue with the screening. It had highlighted the crucial role of the schools, which admit students in Class VI, play in identifying talent from rural and backward areas through the tests and contended that this would not be possible through lottery.

The ministry then sought the opinion of the law ministry and the attorney-general.

“The view from the attorney-general and the law ministry is that the Navodaya Vidyalaya schools are specialised schools and they promote rural talent by providing them with free residential schooling. These schools should get exemption from the RTE provision of ban on screening,” a top source revealed.

The law ministry has favoured a fresh amendment to the act for this purpose. Although a clause in the education law empowers the government to issue a clarification on contentious matters while implementing it, the law ministry said bringing an amendment would be the appropriate way to grant the exemption.

“We have been arguing that every gifted and talented child has the right to be identified and provided with quality education. Without the admission test, it would be difficult for the schools to identify talent and the purpose of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to provide quality education to talented children from poor families would be defeated,” a samiti official said.

The 594 Navodaya schools are regarded as islands of excellence. About 97 per cent students of these schools pass the board exam every year. About 74 per cent students are from families with an annual income less than Rs 48,000. Nearly 11 per cent students are first generation learners in their families.

The law ministry appreciated the samiti’s argument that the US has enacted the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act to protect the rights of gifted and talented students. The right to education law, on the contrary, seeks to homogenise education.

The law, which seeks to provide free and compulsory education to all children between six and 14 years, came into force on April 1 this year. It is now in the process of being amended to include physically challenged children.

The proposed exemption to the Navodaya schools might be opposed by private schools. “If RTE is a policy, then every school should respect this policy and abide by the provisions. The act, which bans screening, is in the larger interest of children,” said Sangita Bhatia, principal of New State Academy , a private school.

A former secretary in the HRD ministry, A.K. Rath, however, said that the Navodaya schools teach poor talented children and should be allowed to hold the tests to find eligible students.