Navodaya Vidyalayas will be exempted from the provisions of the Right to Education Act.
The two key provisions — no-screening and giving 25% reservation to children from economically weaker section — will not be applicable to 444 Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country. These schools will be treated as specified category schools. The HRD ministry had sought the opinion of former Chief Justice of India A S Anand, who said Navodaya Vidyalayas are special category schools.
Later, even the Attorney General also gave a similar opinion. The law ministry while agreeing with AG's opinion had said instead of issuing notification that Navodaya Vidyalayas are separate category, the RTE Act should be amended.
However, the ministry is of the view that the Act does not need amendment since section 2(p) puts Navodaya Vidyalaya in the specified category along with Kendriya Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools.
Though no formal decision has been taken about private boarding schools, the decision on Navodaya will surely have an impact on them.
The reason for letting Navodya Vidyalaya off the RTE hook is three-fold. One, Navodaya Vidyalayas start from class VI and not class I. Two, these schools, located in all districts, have 75% seats reserved for rural children. Seats are also reserved for children from SC and ST communities in proportion to their population in the district, but not less than the national average. One-third of the seats are for girl students and 3% of the seats are for disabled children. Till class IX there is no fee, and from IX to XII, Rs 200 is charged per month. Navodaya Vidyalaya has argued that since these schools already cater primarily to poor rural children, there is no reason for it to give 25% reservation.
As for the contentious issue of no-screening, Navodaya Vidyalaya has contended that these schools are primarily meant for meritorious children and admission is done through a tough entrance examination conducted by the CBSE. "Giving admission without entrance test will dilute the quality of Navodaya Vidyalayas," a source said, adding that in the past 25 years these schools have done extremely well academically.
Courtesy :- TIO.
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