The schools in India have to reserve 25 per cent of their seats for the students from the economically backward sections of the population from the next academic year onwards. This will ensure children from poor families get opportunity to secure admission in elite schools across the country.

Elite schools are a dream to the students from the economically backward sections

There are millions of students in India who dream of studying in a post school, but can’t afford to due to financial constraints. Most of the government operated schools in India are in bad shape, both in terms of infrastructure and quality of the faculty. The teachers are absent most of the time and the classes are not given proper attention at all. So the dreams of all those students studying in such schools might come true in the next year.

25 per cent reservation for students from backward sections in all schools in India

From the next academic year onwards, all the schools in India including those in the elite category will have to keep apart 25 per cent of seats for the economically backward children between the ages of six and fourteen. The provision for this has been included in the Right to Education act, which mandates free and compulsory education for children under the age of 14 years.

State government will reimburse a portion of the fee

Such a provision will help children in the slums to get admission in the top schools in their cities. The act aims at providing free and compulsory education for students from economically backward sections till the 8th grade. The act requires the state government to pay a portion of the fees while the school management will have to bear the remaining portion of the fee.

Access to quality education

The reservation thus made will provide the economically backward students access to quality education, which was once a dream to many of them. The literacy level in India is very low as compared to many of the developing countries and the worst part is that good quality education is not affordable to many of them in the country. So this is a favorable move in that direction and is the need of the hour. This will ensure equal opportunities to every student irrespective of their financial backgrounds.

What happens after the 8th grade?

But the concern is that what will happen to the students’ education after the 8th grade? According to the act the government will pay a portion of the fee only till 8th grade and what will happen after that? Once the free education is over he or she will be left behind as they will not be able to afford the education in the elite schools and so the whole exercise would be meaningless. So the government should take necessary steps to ensure free and compulsory education for students in the economically backward section till the 10th grade.

Concerns raised by the schools

The schools have their own concerns in the provision that has been included in the act. They suggest that such a provision will impact the classroom dynamics culturally, socially, and economically in an undesirable manner. These students from the backward sections will need extra attention from the teachers.

Another problem that might arise is when the students from the backward sections studies in an elite school with other students who are financially well off. This situation will result in the negative feelings and the student may feel like he is let down by others. This observation was made a principal of leading international school in Mumbai.

More over students does not know how to interact with them and so schools have to carry out sensitization programmes for students on how to interact with each other without hurting the feelings of the other. The schools will require a new mechanism to evaluate the students. It is necessary to determine whether the students from the backward sections are will be able to cope up with the curriculum. Teachers will have to put in additional effort to improve the condition of such students through remedy programmes, and it will be tough task. The state government will pay the fees for such students, the amount will be equal to either the fee charged by the school or the per student expenditure in the state schools, whichever is lower.

Is it economically viable for the schools?

But most of the schools doubt whether this is method is economically viable for them. What most of the schools want is a Public Private Partnership which will provide education for the backward students. According to the principal of Jamnabai Marsee School, Sudeshna Chatterjee, the government should look for public private partnership options rather than reservations.

Concerns of the parents of students in such schools

The parents are concerned whether educating such students for free will increase the fee burden of other students. Most of the parents are worried that the schools might find this as a reason to increase the fees to cover up for the students from the backward sections. They believe that this will make the education system more unfair.

Many states have started to implement the provision for reservation

Many states across India have already started to implement the provision of the right to education act. Maharashtra has come out with its norms for implementing the Right to Education act in 2011 and will make the 25 per cent reservation mandatory in all schools from the next academic year onwards.

In Maharashtra the implementation of the Right to Education act is delayed as the government is waiting for the Supreme Court ruling on the issue of reservation. The issue of reservation was taken to the court by some of the private schools in the state and so the act cannot be implemented until the ruling is made by the Supreme Court. It is expected that the act will be implemented in the next academic year and let us hope that the issues will be properly addressed before it gets worse.