Page 24 - EW September 2024

Education News

Delhi, the issue of admitting EWS disputes between the
children in schools has arisen because Centre and states.”
of a misinterpretation of s.12 (1) (c) by The immediate
the state government’s Directorate of worry is that it is likely
Education. DoE determines the num- to delay the payment of
ber of seats available in classes I-VIII salaries of an estimated
whereas s.12 (1) (c) mandates that 25 15,000 government and
percent of children admitted, should aided school teachers.
be from neighbourhood EWS house- Moreover, lack of fund-
holds. “This DoE misinterpretation of ing could disrupt other
s. 12 (1) (c) necessitates admission of critical educational
a larger number of EWS/DG students services, including
than the prescribed 25 percent of chil- reimbursement of fees
dren actually admitted. This adversely for students admitted
affects the financial health of private under the 25 percent
unaided schools,” says Arora. Poyyamozhi: installments withheld quota of the Right to
Criticising the reluctance of private Education (RTE) Act,
schools to abide by mandates of the at the Centre has withheld the first transportation and escort services
RTE Act and s.12 (1) (c) in particular, installment of Rs.573 crore payable provided for children in remote rural
Justice Sharma observed: “We must to Tamil Nadu under the Samagra areas, teacher training programs,
not allow children or their families Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme. and self-defence training for girls in
from disadvantaged groups to accept Under SSA (preschool-class XII) classes VI-XII.
inequalities in education as their so- development allocation of the Union ddressing the media in Koota-
cial or natural fate.” education ministry, Tamil Nadu was Apuli, Tirunelveli on August 31,
Following the court’s order to ap- allocated Rs.3,586 crore for 2024-25, education minister Anbil Mahesh
point nodal officers in all private un- with the Union government to con- Poyyamozhi highlighted that the
aided schools, a precedent has been tribute Rs.2,152 crore (60 percent) Centre had already withheld Rs.230
set. The hope among educationists is and the state government cover- crore — the final installment of the
that this precedent will be followed by ing the remaining Rs.1,434 crore. previous year — and is now refus-
all private unaided schools to give ef- The funds were to be disbursed in ing to release the first installment of
fect to the RTE Act. four installments of which the first Rs.540 crore due in June. He said
Curiously courts are silent about installment was due in June. How- that the Tamil Nadu government’s
the duty of governments at the Cen- ever, despite several reminders and opposition to NEP 2020, which has
tre and in the states to improve and letters from the state government, aroused the ire of the Central gov-
upgrade the country’s 1.20 million the Centre is yet to release the first ernment, is primarily due to NEP’s
government schools in which the ma- installment. mandate that all students country-
jority of EWS household children are This delay has raised alarm about wide need to compulsorily learn
condemned to learn best as they can. its impact on the state’s educa- three languages, including Hindi.
Ditsa Bhattacharya (Delhi) tion infrastructure and students This is opposed by all political
enrolled in 37,217 government and parties in the state, especially DMK
TAMIL NADU 8,403 government-aided schools. D. since 1965 when Hindi was first
Imminent Girija Devi, principal of Anna Gem declared India’s national language
Science Park Matriculation Higher
by the Congress government at the
constitutional crisis Secondary School, Chennai, which Centre in pursuance of an ill-advised
constitutional mandate. Political par-
has 1,400 students and 70 teach-
ers on its muster rolls, says a severe ties in peninsular India — especially
n a reaction to the dmk govern- setback for government schools Tamil Nadu whose people pride
ment’s refusal to implement the is imminent. “Government school themselves on the classical vintage
INational Education Policy (NEP) students depend on state govern- and rich vocabulary of Tamil — have
2020 and writing its own State Edu- ment funds to purchase essential vehemently opposed imposition of
cation Policy (SEP) under the guide- textbooks, uniforms, and laboratory Hindi as the national language (de-
lines of the Justice Murugesan Com- equipment. If the state doesn’t re- spite it being the mother tongue of
mittee which submitted a 550-page ceive funding from the Centre, there an estimated 47 percent of the coun-
draft to the state government on will be a cascading effect. Education try’s population). Tamils believe that
July 1, the BJP-led NDA government should not be entangled in political declaring it as such would give native

24 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2024