Page 22 - EW September 2024

Education News

Ashoka universities, Indian School this ill-considered major-
of Business, Hyderabad among oth- ity judgment is that the
ers — don’t bother to participate in well-intentioned RTE Act
this official annual rankings exercise has been bogged down in
because of a widespread belief that litigation.
NIRF is heavily biased in favour of Against this back-
government HEIs. drop, on August 23, the
“The NIRF Rankings are not Delhi High Court made
credible because it is essentially a a spirited attempt to give
self-assessment exercise. Participat- effect to s.12 (1) (c) by is-
ing HEIs routinely over-claim their suing several directions
achievements of which there’s at to ensure admission of
best a cursory if any, audit. Like the children from the eco-
world’s most respected university nomically weaker section
rankings conducted by globally re- EWS children in Delhi: nodal officers lifeline (EWS) and disadvantaged
puted agencies such as QS and Times groups (DG) category in
Higher Education, the Education- their neighbourhood into class I and private unaided non-minority schools
World rankings of higher ed institu- retain them free-of-charge until class of Delhi state. Under the court’s or-
tions are based on the perceptions VIII became law in 2010, this provi- der, 22 percent of seats in elementary
of several thousand knowledgeable sion has not been implemented by a classes should be reserved for EWS
sample respondents including vice large number of the country’s estimat- children and 3 percent for differently
chancellors, faculty, and indus- ed 450,000 private schools. Even after abled students.
try leaders mixed with objective in Unaided Schools of Rajasthan vs. he orders were issued by Justice
research and publications data,” says Union of India & Anr (2012), a three- TSwarna Kanta Sharma in Gunjan
Shubra Mishra, promoter-director judge bench of the Supreme Court by a as Guardian of Pihu vs Govt of NCT
of AZ Research Partners, a highly 2:1 majority upheld the constitutional of Delhi & Anr following the filing of
respected Bengaluru-based market validity of s.12 (1) (c) while exempting eight writ petitions by ten petitioners,
research firm. minority and boarding schools from who cited difficulties encountered due
In the EWIHER Rankings 2024- complying with it. to “technical issues” in getting their
25, Amity University and BITS-Pilani Private schools resent this mandate children admitted in private schools
topped the private multidisciplinary of the RTE Act as “partial backdoor under s.12 (1) (c).
and engineering categories, and nationalisation” of elementary (class Accepting the merit in the petition-
Delhi University and IISc, Bangalore, I-VIII) education, especially since s.12 ers’ contentions, the court directed all
the government multi-disciplinary (2), which mandates (state) govern- private unaided schools in Delhi to
and engineering & technology cat- ments to reimburse private schools appoint nodal officers to oversee the
egories (see https://www.education- the cost of educating poor neighbour- admission process of students under
world.in/ewiher-top-300-universi- hood children on the basis of the aver- the EWS/DG category. It ordered
ties-2023-24/). Field personnel of age cost of educating children in gov- nodal officers to serve as the primary
AZ Research Partners interviewed ernment schools, has been casually point of contact for parents and guard-
2,100 higher education faculty and followed by state governments. ians, ensuring the latter receive clear
students countrywide to compile In retrospect, it is clear the minor- guidance and assistance throughout
EWIHER 2024-25. Take your pick. ity judgement of Justice Radhakrish- the admission process. It also stated
Special Correspondent (Delhi) nan who contended that the mandates that the information about the nodal
of Articles 45 & 21 A of the Constitu- officer, including his/her contact de-
EWS children tion, which prompted legislation of tails and office hours should be promi-
the RTE Act, required the State — not
nently displayed at every school’s en-
trance and on their official websites.
private school promoters — to provide
judgement free and compulsory education to all Moreover it also directed the schools
to set up help desks within their prem-
children, was correct. However this
lthough s.12 (1) (c) of the contention was overruled by Chief ises to aid/advise parents of EWS/DG
landmark Right of Children Justice Kapadia and Justice Swatan- category students on the admission
Ato Free & Compulsory Educa- ter Kumar who held that the said Ar- process.
tion (RTE) Act, 2009, which mandates ticles did not specify “the manner” by However according to Bharat
all private schools countrywide to ad- which the State should universalise Arora, President of the Action Com-
mit children from poor households in elementary education. The result of mittee of Private Unaided Schools of

22 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2024