The Right to Education Act mandates that no screening or entrance exam will be conducted for admission to schools. However,the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS),a Central government body that runs a chain of schools to given quality education to talented children in rural or remote areas,is apparently the first one to violate this rule. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is learnt to have shot off a notice to NVS for holding an all-India entrance test earlier this year for admission to 500-odd Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalyas. NVS,for its part,has sought an exemption from this particular provision of the RTE Act,citing its special mandate to identify and cater to talented children in remote areas,which,it says,is not possible without screening. Admission to Navodaya Vidyalayas is made at the level of Class VI on the basis of a test conducted in the concerned district,in which children having passed Class V from a recognised school of any tehsil/block in that district,are eligible to appear. The same process this year has attracted the NCPCRs ire with the RTE Act coming into force from April 1. In a letter to all state Education Secretaries,NCPCR has said that it is reliably learnt that Navodaya Vidyalayas in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere are conducting admission tests for entry to their institutions. The above procedure for admission is prohibited by Section 13 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,2009 (RTE Act,2009). The particular provision also states that subjecting a child to a screening procedure shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to Rs 25,000 for the first contravention and Rs 50,000 for each subsequent contraventions. NCPCR accordingly has asked NVS that the admission test be withdrawn and another notice in conformity with the provisions of the RTE Act,2009 be issued at the earliest to admit students. NCPCR chairperson Shanta Sinha confirmed the move and said no exemption from RTE provisions would be entertained. NVS has now taken up the matter with the HRD Ministry seeking exemption from the provisions of Section 13(1). Navodayas reserve 75 per cent seats for students from rural areas while allocating one-third seats to girls and one-fourth to students from urban areas. Accordingly,NVS has submitted that it may not be possible for it to make admissions in JNVs by a random selection method and that some type of screening procedure has to be adopted.
