Haryana yet to probe schools violating RTE norms
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Panchkula Even as some schools in Panchkula are accused of conducting interviews for admission to nursery classes, the Haryana government has yet to probe similar allegations against four other prominent schools in the state that were accused of conducting screening tests and profiling children for admissions to nursery classes.

Five schools in Gurgaon were accused by a civil rights group v r one ( president Sumitvohra), working in the field of the Right To Education (RTE) Act, for violating the RTE norms. The schools against whom a compliant was lodged at the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) include the Scottish High International School, K R Mangalam school, Salwan Montessori school, Suncity school and the Bluebells Public school. The NCPCR had issued a notice to the Haryana government, urging it to probe the allegations against the four schools. The Haryana government officials, however, claim to have not received any such notice.

“ We have yet to receive the letter from the NCPCR and when we get it, we will probe the allegations,” said an official of the basic education department, Haryana.

Meanwhile, there are allegations that parents had undergone a screening procedure in a few schools at Panchkula during admissions for the lower classes.

Amidst the reports, education officials in Panchkula have said they would conduct a probe into the issue. “ As of now we have not received any compliant about violation of the norms for admission to nursery. But we will investigate if we receive any complaint from any parent or a guardian,” said an official of education department.

The principal of Bhavan Vidyalaya in Sector 15, Panchkula, Shashi Banerjee said the school was only conducting counselling sessions for the LKG admission process. “ Candidates seeking admission to the school have to get themselves registered with Bhavan Vidyalaya. We later conduct counselling sessions where we check the date of birth certificate and other certificates for admission to all levels,” Banerjee said. The manager of the another private school in Panchkula, Blue Bird High School also said the school was following norms while admitting children at the nursery level. The private schools in Panchkula had recently come under sharp criticism for their failure to file self-declaration forms regarding compliance of the RTE. A majority of them only began filing the self-declaration forms after court intervention after a public interest litigation (PIL) regarding implementation of the RTE came up for hearing.