25% NEIGHBOURHOOD ADMISSION POLICY UNDER RTE: AN EVALUATION

Section 12 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (the Act) has made it compulsory for every private unaided school to admit at least 25% of its entry level class from children belonging to weaker and disadvantaged groups. Due to various implementation issues this policy has been criticized by many social activists, academicians and educationists as well. An empirical study of the schools from Pune and Beed show various issues in the implementation of this provision, such as - vague admission process under the RTE, reimbursement as a per child expenditure being insufficient, negative approach of the school regarding the admission under 25% admission, lack of awareness of parents about the 25% reservation, schools manipulating the provision of admission under 25% reservation policy, etc. Suggestions for the effective implementation of the 25% admission policy include a fair selection process, adequate and timely reimbursement to school, transparent monitoring and evaluation system among others. Overall this 25% neighbourhood school admission policy for the disadvantaged and weaker students is good but needs a far better implementation structure and a determined political and administrative will to succeed on greater scale. Its main objectives of social integration of children and exposure to quality education are laudable and express the best intentions of the RTE act.