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Why no quota for disabled in nursery, HC asks L-G- INDIAN EXPRESS 22 Feb

Why no quota for disabled in nursery, HC asks L-G

Written by Aneesha Mathur | New Delhi | February 22, 2014 2:30 am

Summary

As nursery admission will soon be closed, the court has asked L-G Najeeb Jung to respond to the plea by Tuesday.

Observing that the disabled were “invisible minorities” and it was the “duty” of the government to protect their rights, the Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to the Delhi L-G, asking him to explain why there was no quota for physically challenged children in the points system issued for nursery admissions to private unaided schools.

“Clubbing with 25 per cent (quota for) economically weaker groups (EWS) would also subsume or entirely extinguish the claim of the special children to their right to education,” observed the court of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice R V Easwar.

Taking note of the urgency of the issue as the nursery admission process will soon be closed, the court has asked the Delhi government to respond to the plea by Tuesday.

A PIL had been filed on Thursday by the father of a child with special needs, claiming that the guidelines issued under the RTE Act, had “completely ignored” the interests of children with special needs and disabilities. He said the guidelines, “instead of creating a level playing field or creating more opportunities for children with disabilities to have access to good education, have ended up in marginalising them completely”.

The plea also notes that the nursery admissions guidelines issued by the Delhi Lt-Governor in December, had also clubbed the mentally challenged children into the EWS category, reducing opportunities for them.

The petition also said the amendment to the RTE Act in 2012 was “unconstitutional” since the amendment included “children with disabilities” within the category of disadvantaged children, clubbing them with the 25 per cent quota for economically weaker sections.

“The amendment of 2012 to the RTE Act, 2009, is unconstitutional in as much as it has curtailed the special provisions of the Disabilities Act, 1995, by which disabled children have an established right to access to education as they have special needs and may not be at par to compete with children of normal cognitive ability,” the plea filed by Pramod Arora stated.

During arguments on Friday, Senior advocate Kirti Uppal also submitted that only 43 of over 230 ( LIST OF SCHOOLS WITH ALL DATA OF 230 SCHOOLS PROVIDED BY AdmissionsNursery.com)private unaided schools in the city had the infrastructure to support children with special needs, and had been reserving three or four seats in the general quota for such children before the L-G’s guidelines.

“The schools cannot use that discretion and set aside points for the disabled now because the L-G’s guidelines have clubbed the children with special needs with the EWS category. How will they get admission now?” the senior advocate asked.

The court has now directed the schools which have the required facilities to reserve three seats for the mentally challenged children as an interim measure.

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Permalink Reply by Kapil Sachdeva on February 22, 2014 at 3:21pm

Quota... Quota is all crap... With all citizens equal in eye of the constitution all citizens should be treated on merit..

2morrow we will have quota for Sc/ST/Tribals/OBC/Minorities..Rubbish

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Permalink Reply by Maharam Tanwar on February 22, 2014 at 4:42pm

Quota system to me means safeguarding the interests of persons with disabilities - be it of any kind. The purpose of quota system should be providing an opportunity to upbring a sapling so that the affected should not become a victim of our society's corrupt traditions. As per Hinduism, rebirths are the cause of one's own actions, but that does not mean NO CHANCE to correct himself in the present birth. With the support of such laws, a persons not only is made able to develop himself but also contribute to the society for a strong nation building. To achieve the same, quota system is introduced. At times, people use it otherwise differently.

Anyway, something vital to be done with the quota system.

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Permalink Reply by nri18 on February 23, 2014 at 2:20am

Very true... EWS category is basically meant to Economicaly Weaker Section of the society, i.e., for parents earning less than 1 lac per year. Hence, govt. subsidised for their education.

Whereas other sections of the society like Single Parent, SC/ST, Children with special needs require a quota in the total seats and not the free seats as their parents are in a position to pay for the school of their choice.

Therefore, it should be like this:

15% seats - EWS/Orphans quota No Fees

5% seats - Staff No fees

10% seats - SC / ST/OBC category Normal Fees

5% seats - Minority category Normal Fees

3% seats - Children with disabilities Normal Fees

2% seats - Single Parent Normal Fees

50% seats - General Category Normal Fees

10% seats - Management category High Fees (No donation) to subsidise fees for all other categories

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Permalink Reply by Lathaa Manavalan on February 23, 2014 at 9:06am

It is a serious issue to be looked upon.

RTE bill which specifically describes these terms

(d) “child belonging to disadvantaged group” means a child belonging tothe scheduled caste, the scheduled tribe, the socially and educationally backward class or such other group having disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor, as may be specified by the appropriate Government, by notification;

(e) “child belonging to weaker section” means a child belonging to such parent or guardian whose annual income is lower than the minimum limit specified by the appropriate Government, by notification;

So appropriate Government should allot a specific quota within free seats quota for EWS and disadvantaged group.

Even the income limit can be fixed by the appropriate government for each category. The below guidelines can prove the same.

The Karnataka government has issued a detailed notification which defines eligibility:

Disadvantaged Groups

Scheduled Class*
Scheduled Tribe*
Backward Classes
Category I*
Category II A*
Category II B*
Category III A*
Category III B*
Orphan
Migrant and Street Children
Child with Special Needs
HIV infected/affected

*Various caste/tribes constituting categories, shall be prescribed by the Social Welfare Department from time to time

Weaker Section

Other castes and communities whose parent's/guardian's annual income is less than `3.5 lakhs (or the socially and educationally creamy layer as prescribed by the social welfare department)

Method

Out of the earmarked 25 percent of seats:

7.5 % Scheduled Castes (S.C.)
1.5 % Scheduled Tribes (S.T.)

The balance of 16% seats shall be provided to other categories of children belonging to disadvantaged group and children belonging to weaker sections living in the neighbourhood.

If sufficient number of applications from children belonging to SC have not been received then those seats shall be filled among children belonging to ST and vice-versa. If the SC & ST quota remains unfilled then it will be added to remaining categories of 2(e) and 2(f) of the Rules. In case the seats earmarked for such other categories of children remain unfilled, those seats shall be filled from among children from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. After exhausting all the applications of children residing in the neighbourhood, application of children from outside the neighbourhood shall be considered.