Parents of the students from economically weaker section (EWS) category has come up with allegations that a school in Gujarat is discriminating against the children from EWS category and other students. Students from the EWS category are taught in a separate room, which prevents them from mixing with the other students.
Parents of 38 students, admitted under RTE said in their complaint to the District Education Officer (DEO) that Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s administration has made a separate section, B1, for the EWS category students.
The complaint states, “Students who have been admitted to the school under the RTE are allotted a separate classroom and are segregated from other students and discriminated against. We request you to look into the matter and absorb them with all the other students.”
Parents tried to contact the school administration and principal but their efforts were in vain. “Every time we tried to meet the principal, we were asked to come later. When we approached the class teacher, she said that the students will continue to remain in a separate class till class 8,” one of the parents said.
Confirming the fact that the school has created a separate section for the students admitted under the RTE, school principal R K Singhal said, “We are not discriminating against them, but we have faced problems with the previous batches where the students were unable to cope with other students. So, we want to work with them separately and help them in whichever way we can so that they could excel.”
Parents also complained that the school is not giving proper attention to the students. According to them, school children have hardly any homework or classwork since the school opened after summer vacations.
An education official at the DEO said, “CBSE schools commence their new academic year for a month before they break for summer vacation. Students under the RTE who have joined the classes now have missed the entire monthʼs curriculum and based on that Bhartiya Vidya Bhavans has created a separate section for these students. But we will soon be meeting school authorities and make sure that these students are not segregated like this and are absorbed with other students in different sections. This is for the first time that we have been approached for a situation like this and we will make sure that the issue is resolved.”