The Catholic schools like everyone else will have to follow the Pre-Primary Act: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, March 13. The government has decided to suspend the admission procedure of the Act following objections from some sections: Education Minister Sudhir Joshi, April 24. The entire Act, save Section 5, is very much in force. The media is unnecessarily creating confusion: Minister of State for Education Anil Deshmukh, May 27.Three statements by three different men over a period of three months have plunged the pre-primary admissions in the city into unprecedented confusion. Schools don't know what rules to follow and parents have no idea what their rights are. The Act, which was passed by the assembly last year, was supposed to curb donations, root out discrimination in admissions and reduce the load of heavy school bags. A visit to any one school in the city would reveal that none of the objectives have been achieved. It's still impossible to get your child admitted to a school without paying a hugesum in donation. Any talk of removing discrimination is meaningless without first dealing with donations. And if schools have defied government on all other counts, what's the guarantee they will follow its specifications on study material. What's more painful is that the people have not been told why their government suddenly changed its mind on such a vital issue? How a policy decision endorsed by both Houses of the assembly was junked? Did the decision to suspend the Act follow a debate, or was it a click of that famous remote? The education minister in an interview with Express Newsline had admitted that it was opposition from within his party that had forced him to backtrack. If that's true, it once again raises a very fundamental question. Is the state being ruled by a democratically elected government, or the whims or fancies of a few partymen.
