Lok Sabha Question No. 2330 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-09
Subject: Admission of Economically Weaker Section Students
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: NANABHAU FALGUNRAO PATOLE, RAMESH BIDHURI, NEELAM SONKER

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2330 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 TH  MAY, 2016

## Admission of Economically Weaker Section Students

†2330. SHRI NANA PATOLE: SHRI RAMESH BIDHURI: SHRIMATI NEELAM SONKER:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has received any complaint regarding admission of students in private  schools  across  the  country  under  25%  quota  meant  for  the  Economically  Weaker Sections on the basis of fake income certificates and thereby violating the Right to Education Act;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the number of such complaints received during the last three years, State/UT and school-wise;

(c) the action taken/being taken by the Government against the erring persons/ touts who are arranging fake income certificates;

(d)  whether  any  improvement  has  been  noticed  in  the  infrastructure  and  enrolment  in  the schools located in the rural and urban areas after implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; and

(e)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  benefits  that  have  accrued  to  the  students belonging to Economically Weaker Sections of the society since the implementation of the said Act?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (c): Section 12(1)(c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for admission of children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in the neighbourhood private unaided schools in Class I or below to the extent of at least 25 percent of the strength of that class. Section 12(2) further mandates that such schools shall be reimbursed expenditure incurred by them as per the prescribed norms.

The  Government  of  NCT  of  Delhi  has  informed  that  some  of  the  cases  of  economically weaker  section/disadvantaged  group  category  admission  in  private  unaided  recognized schools of Delhi on the basis of fake income certificates have come to their notice. List of the schools  where  such  cases  have  been  detected  in  Delhi  are  at  Annexure.  Delhi  Police  has registered some FIRs against the concerned schools. Government of NCT of Delhi has issued directions to all the private schools to be cautious in this regard and exercise due diligence as well as carry out necessary verification before admissions so as to ensure the benefits under Section 12(1)(c) are given to the targeted group of children. During  the  last  three years,  a total  of  eleven  complaints  regarding  admission  of  students  in  schools  in  the  State  of  Uttar Pradesh  were  received  by  the  Ministry  of  Human  Resource  Development,  and  those  were forwarded to the State Government of Uttar Pradesh for taking appropriate action.

The  RTE  Act,  2009  provides  monitoring  of  child's  rights  to  education  and  redressal  of grievances by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) at central level and  by  State  Commission  for  Protection  of  Child  Rights  (SCPCRs)  at  State  level.  The Ministry has issued guidelines on 23 rd November, 2010 to all States under Section 35 of the RTE  Act,  2009  for  implementation  of  Section  12(1)(c).  Further,  education  is  in  the Concurrent List and majority of the schools are under the purview of State governments and it is primarily for the States to take appropriate action on the complaints of admissions under 25% quota meant for economically weaker sections on the basis of fake income certificates. Whenever any complaints in this regard are received by the Central Government, they are forwarded  to  the  concerned  State  Governments  with  a  request  to  enquire  and  take  prompt action on the matter.

(d)  &  (e):    After  implementation  of  the  RTE  Act,  a  considerable  improvement  has  been noticed  in  the  infrastructure  in  the  schools.  Before  the  RTE,  there  were  132352  primary schools which have increased to 182413 till 31 st December, 2015. Similarly, the number of upper primary schools has risen from 80889 to 105036 during the same period. In the year 2009-10, schools with drinking water facilities and schools with toilet facilities were 185796 and  273247  respectively,  which  rose  to  230400  and  961415  till  31 st December,  2015. Similarly, upto 2009-10, 916946 additional classrooms were constructed in the schools. After implementation of the RTE Act, the number of construction of additional classrooms rose to 1729476 till 31.12.2015.

As  per  data  from  Unified  District  Information  System  for  Education,  the  enrolment  of children at elementary level in 2009-10 was 18.78 crore, which increased to 19.76 in 2014-15 after implementation of RTE Act.

Bridging gender and social category gaps in elementary education is one of the major goals of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA).  Consequently,  SSA  attempts  to  reach  out  to  girls  and children  belonging  to  Scheduled  Caste  (SC),  Scheduled  Tribes  (ST),  Muslims  and  other marginalised communities. SSA has also given attention to urban deprived children, children affected by periodic migration, and children living in remote and scattered habitations.

Under the SSA, the districts with high concentration of population of SCs, STs and Muslims have  been  identified  as  Special  Focus  Districts  (SFDs).  Through  the  interventions  made under SSA in SFDs, at the national level the enrolment share of SC children as per District Information System for Education (DISE), 2013-14, at elementary level is 19.72%, whereas their share in population is 16.6% (as per Census 2011). Similarly, the enrolment share of ST children  at  elementary  level  as  per  DISE  2013-14,  is  10.63%,  whereas  their  share  in population is 8.6% (as per Census 2011). Participation of students at school has an impact on their  learning  outcomes.  Four  rounds  of  National  Achievement  Surveys  (NAS)  have  been conducted so far by the National Council of Educational Research & Training for class V whereas  three  rounds  have  been  conducted  for  classes  III  &  VIII.  These  reveal  that  that SC/ST children have performed better than the national average in Language, Maths, Science and Social Science, in many of the States.

The  drop-out  rate  in  respect  of  ST  children  has  come  down  to  10.16%  in  2013-14  from 11.77% in 2012-13 at primary level. Similarly, in case of Muslim children the drop-out rate has decreased to 7.03% in 2013-14 from 10.70% in 2012-13 at primary level.

Under SSA, since its inception and upto 31.12.2015, 92021 primary schools, 54623 upper primary schools and 851473 additional classrooms have been constructed in SFDs. In SFDs with ST concentration, 106 residential schools and 190 hostels have been sanctioned.

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ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  to  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2330  ASKED  BY  SHRI  NANA  PATOLE,  SHRI RAMESH BIDHURI AND SHRIMATI NEELAM SONKER TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 TH   MAY,  2016  REGARDING  'ADMISSION  OF  ECONOMICALLY  WEAKER SECTION STUDENTS'

List  of  schools  where  cases  of  EWS  category  admission  on  the  basis  of  fake  income certificates have been detected in Delhi

|   Sl. No. | School Name                                           |   Cases |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------|---------|
|         1 | DLDAV Model School, Shalimar Bagh                     |      04 |
|         2 | Modern Public School                                  |      02 |
|         3 | Vikas Bharti Public School, Rohini, Delhi             |      09 |
|         4 | Heritage Public School, Rohini, Delhi                 |      08 |
|         5 | Delhi Public School, Rohini, Delhi                    |      07 |
|         6 | Bal Bharti Public School, Rohini, Delhi               |      13 |
|         7 | Venkateshwar Gloval School, Rohini, Delhi             |      18 |
|         8 | The Sovereign School, Rohini, Delhi                   |      15 |
|         9 | Prince Public School, Budh Vihar, Delhi               |      02 |
|        10 | Prince Public School, Sector-24, Rohini, Delhi        |      06 |
|        11 | Mount Abu Public School, Rohini, Delhi                |      07 |
|        12 | Delhi International Public School, Rohini, Delhi      |      02 |
|        13 | Bal Bharti Public School, Pritam Pura, Delhi          |      69 |
|        14 | Darbar Lal DAV Model School, Pitampura, Delhi         |      04 |
|        15 | Maharaja Aggarsen Model School, Pitampura, Delhi      |      02 |
|        16 | Ravindra Public School, S.D. Block, Pritampura, Delhi |      03 |
|        17 | Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, Delhi              |      09 |
|        18 | South Delhi Public School, Defence Colony, Delhi      |      06 |
|        19 | DPS, Junior Public School, Vasant Vihar               |      03 |
|        20 | Spring Dales School, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi           |      03 |

Source:

Govt. of NCT, Delhi