HC reserves order on PIL challenging new RTE rule

The Karnataka High Court has reserved its order on a public interest litigation filed questioning the legality of the new rule that denies admission under RTE quota seats in private schools when the government and the aided schools are available in the neighbourhood.

The PIL has been filed by RTE Students and Parents’ Association, Bengaluru. The petitioner has questioned the legal validity of the provision added to Rule 4(7) of the Karnataka RTE Rules while contending that it is contrary to the objective of the RTE Act, which gives the right to children to study in a school in their neighbourhood.

The state government, in the last hearing, had submitted that it is working towards strengthening the government schools in the state.

The petitioner has submitted that the government has failed in the effective implementation of the RTE Act following which the children of poor parents are forced to study in private schools.

Justifying the new rule, the government submitted that the aim of the RTE Act is to provide elementary education in the neighbourhood by establishing government schools.

The government also submitted that the number of government schools being closed down in the state is alarming. The government wants to improve the quality of education being provided in government schools thereby strengthening the government schools.

Furthermore, allowing unrestricted admission of children to private unaided schools under the RTE quota has resulted in ‘zero’ admission in hundreds of government schools in the state since 2012-13.

Following this, the number of new unaided private schools has gone up by around 3,000 during this period, the government contended.

The government has claimed in its statement that allowing admission in unaided private schools under RTE quota when the government schools are available in the neighbourhood will be destructive to the very purpose of the RTE Act.