The three children from city slums who got admitted to a public school in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 3: The parents of six-year-old D. Soham are dreaming big. Thanks to the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2010, their economic status would no longer be an obstacle to Soham’s aspirations of becoming a doctor.

After being turned down by a local school in Niladri Vihar last year for their incapability to pay a lumpsum admission fee, Sushant, a taxi driver, and his wife, Purnima, had sought the intervention of a local NGO working for the development of children and women.

After long sessions with the school management on the relevant provisions of the RTE Act, Soham was admitted to the Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 4.

“Education is becoming very expensive these days. We had never imagined our son would get an opportunity to study in a big school free of cost. The school might bear the cost of uniform and textbooks also. The RTE is a landmark law about which awareness needs to be generated,” said Soham’s father, Sushant who resides in the Isaneswar slum at Niladri Vihar.

The Act, which provides for free and compulsory education for all the children aged between six and 14, also contains a provision for reservation of 25 per cent of seats in all schools receiving grants-in-aid from the government and other private schools for economically and socially disadvantaged sections.

Along with Soham, two other six-year-olds from city slums who got lucky are Suman Raj Singh and N. Kamal. They have also earned admission to Class I in the same school. “The Act has given a new hope to poor people like us. This brings an end to the rich-poor discrimination as all children will get equal opportunities to compete with each other,” said Suman’s mother, Mini Rani Singh.

It was a unique effort on the part of the NGO which is among the few creating awareness about the Act among the people.

“This is the fist case of its kind in the state. There are many who are just not aware of the provisions of the Act which has emerged as a powerful weapon for the empowerment of the poor,” said Sadashiv Swain, secretary of the NGO concerned.

. What is surprising is that even our educated gentry had not taken the trouble of reading this landmark legislation which promises to change the fate of the ordinary India,” said Sadashiv Swain, secretary of the NGO concerned.