After government order, lobbying for nursery admissions is a thing of past
25 Dec 2013 12:03 AM GMT
The orders go a long way towards establishing a check on the commercialisation of education in private unaided schools.
Sumit Vohra, an activist, said, ‘‘I welcomed the abolition of management quota for nursery admissions here. I am happy now that there will be no more bribes and no more approaches from politicians and industrialists.
‘Earlier under the guise of management quota, many schools used to indulge in lobbying with bigwigs and illegally provide admissions to their children, with donations of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15 lakhs,’ he alleged.
Ashok Agarwal, social jurist said, ‘One day back, along with a 6-member delegation, I met the director of education and asked the government to stick to the same guidelines. The orders are not only in favor of children but it also goes a long way to check commercialisation of education in unaided private schools. National Progressive School Conference (NPSC), an organisation which comprises of 138 leading private progressive schools, in their letter on 20 December showed that they are not in any manner concerned with the rights of children’.
‘There are basically two objections raised by NPSC. First, that they should be given 20% discretionary management quota, which I believe, has been misused by schools and it is a major source of corruption in admission to private schools. NPSC should come out with data to show how NPSC used the discretionary quota in the last three years for the good of deserving cases. In any case, the same is discriminatory, arbitrary, against public interest and opposed to public policy. Schools have been abusing their autonomy purely for commercial interests. I therefore, strongly support government order.’
Despite repeated calls and text messages, vice-chairperson of NPSC, Ameeta Mulla Wattal, was unavailable for comments. RC Jain, president of Delhi State Public Schools Management Association, said the government order, ‘amounts to interfering with the direct attack on the autonomy of private schools.’
Sumit Vohra, an activist, said, ‘‘I welcomed the abolition of management quota for nursery admissions here. I am happy now that there will be no more bribes and no more approaches from politicians and industrialists.
‘Earlier under the guise of management quota, many schools used to indulge in lobbying with bigwigs and illegally provide admissions to their children, with donations of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15 lakhs,’ he alleged.
Ashok Agarwal, social jurist said, ‘One day back, along with a 6-member delegation, I met the director of education and asked the government to stick to the same guidelines. The orders are not only in favor of children but it also goes a long way to check commercialisation of education in unaided private schools. National Progressive School Conference (NPSC), an organisation which comprises of 138 leading private progressive schools, in their letter on 20 December showed that they are not in any manner concerned with the rights of children’.
‘There are basically two objections raised by NPSC. First, that they should be given 20% discretionary management quota, which I believe, has been misused by schools and it is a major source of corruption in admission to private schools. NPSC should come out with data to show how NPSC used the discretionary quota in the last three years for the good of deserving cases. In any case, the same is discriminatory, arbitrary, against public interest and opposed to public policy. Schools have been abusing their autonomy purely for commercial interests. I therefore, strongly support government order.’
Despite repeated calls and text messages, vice-chairperson of NPSC, Ameeta Mulla Wattal, was unavailable for comments. RC Jain, president of Delhi State Public Schools Management Association, said the government order, ‘amounts to interfering with the direct attack on the autonomy of private schools.’
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