exclusive
spirit of RTE
Children at the St Anne’s High School in Ulsoor, which has been practicing integration. Pic: Navya P K.
Some schools lead
rich-poor mixing Even as the state government is yet to
finalise the rules for the mandatory admission of lowincome children into private schools (Right to Education Act) for the next academic year, most city schools already completing their admissions. Karnataka’s SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) department will soon submit a revised draft of Karnataka’s rules for the RTE Act to the government. “We have revised the draft after taking suggestions from the public. The new draft will be submitted by end of this month,” says Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, State Project Director, SSA.
While many private schools in Bengaluru are strongly opposing provisions of the Act, other private schools are already at the other end of the spectrum, integrating disadvantaged children in their classes and campuses. Some
of these schools have been supporting needy children for a long time and have been able to overcome many issues that detractors of the Act have been raising. Sister Kanik Mary, Principal of St Anne’s High School and PUC College in Ulsoor, says, “Around 40 percent of the children studying here get scholarships – some of them get 100 percent scholarships - and free books and uniforms.” The funds for this come from the management, Society of Sisters of St Anne’s. The school also provides mid day meals to around 200 children through the government’s Akshaya Patra programme. While some schools support children with funds from their parent trust, others say they are developing a selfsustaining model. Another school, The Samhita Academy (TSA) in Bannerghatta road, has 46 disadvantaged children 10
CITIZEN MATTERS
18 - 31 Dec 2010
Vol-2 Issue-23
among its total strength of around 150 children. The 46 who come from extremely poor backgrounds are given free accommodation in the school hostel. The parents’ trust, Advaith Foundation, funds the needy children now, but the administration wants the school to be self-sustaining soon by increasing the number of day scholars, who pay full fees. “Food, accommodation, extra tuitions and extra curricular activities are arranged for children in the hostel free of cost. There are 25 staff – including senior teachers and nurses – to look after the children,” says Aparna Goenka, Trustee of Advaith Foundation and Director of the hostel. Samhita’s disadvantaged children are admitted to school after a six-month bridge programme. “They pick up fast and seem to perform better than many day scholars. If you go to the school, you won’t be able to differentiate between them,” says Aparna. Poorna school in Yelahanka, Sri Ramakrishna School in Ulsoor and St Josephs European School are some of the other schools in Bengaluru that have an integration policy. Sujaya School, soon to open in Bommasandra Industrial area in the southern outskirts is positioning itself as an integrated school itself. In the meantime, major private school associations like KUSMA (Karnataka Unaided School Management Association) has opposed RTE stating many reasons, including possible ‘conflict, discord and controversy’ due to ‘mixing of children from different strata of society’. However, the state education department has said that action would be taken against schools that have already completed admissions.
Navya P K