Union Law Ministry decided to keep Navodaya Vidyalayas outside the ambit of RTE Act

The Union Law Ministry decided to keep the Navodaya Vidyalayas in the country outside the ambit of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The decision was reached by the Law Ministry after hearing out the logic of Human Resource Development Ministry and consultation with the Attorney General (AG). The two key provisions of the RTE Act are- no screening and 25% reservation for economically weaker sections will not be applicable to 444 Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country.

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) conducts entrance examination in February every year and new session commences in July. However in the backdrop of legal constraint, the entrance examination could not be held thus far for 2011.

The RTE Act states that no screening test of either children or their parents can be conducted for admission in any school. Every school will have to reserve 25 percent seats for the children belonging to economically weaker section. However entrance examination is the basis for admission in Navodaya Vidyalayas, which had refused to admit children under RTE. Following the refusal of the Navodaya Vidyalayas to abide by the prescribed admission procedures, National Commission for Child Protection had issued notice to Navodaya Vidyalaya to cancel admission on the basis of entrance test.

NVS had sought HRD ministry's opinion after it received notice from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights for flouting RTE norms. HRD ministry had sought the opinion of former Chief Justice of India A S Anand, who mentioned that Navodaya Vidyalayas are special category schools.

The law ministry while agreeing with the AG's opinion suggested that instead of issuing a notification that Navodaya Vidyalayas fall in a separate category, the RTE Act should be amended. However, the ministry was of the view that the Act does not need to be amended since section 2(p) puts Navodaya Vidyalayas in a specified category along with Kendriya Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools.

There are a number of reasons for letting Navodaya Vidyalayas off the RTE hook:

•    Navodaya Vidyalayas start from class VI and not class I.
•    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.

NVS argued that since these schools cater primarily to poor rural children, there was no reason for it to give 25% reservation. As for the contentious issue of no-screening, NVS contended that these schools were primarily meant for meritorious children and admission was done through a tough entrance examination conducted by CBSE.