Catholic schools adamant

The board has now demanded that the government: 1) either issue a notification stating that act has been suspended and this should be gazetted; or 2) promulgate an ordinance suspending the act; or 3) the government’s advocate, representingthe authorities in the case pending in the Bombay High Court, submit before court that the act has been suspended.

It is vital that the government clarify its legal stand as the statement made by the education minister on the floor of the House (during the Budget session of the Legislature) has no sanctity in a court of law, Fr Denis Pereira, secretary to the ABE (Mumbai), told Express Newsline.He said the Archbishop met with government representatives where his “stated position was made known to them”, Fr Perira said. The meeting, convened by the Bishops of Western Region and attended by 148 schools statewide, was convened at the weekend to discuss the issue, which has plagued kindergarten admissions ever since the act was announced in the state Assembly in April last year.

The ABE, which accounts for most private, trust-run schools in Mumbai, has been contesting the act in general and Section 5 in particular on the ground that it impinges on the schools’ right to exercise its discretion duringadmission. The neighbourhood policy, which related to Section 5, limited this right to just 20 per cent of the seats in each school.

The ABE demanded that the act be scrapped altogether. However, with the government refusing to bend, it has now demanded that the act be suspended, till next year at least.

Following the announcement by Education Minister Sudhir Joshi in the Legislative Assembly on April, that the act will be enforced from the forthcoming academic year – except for Section 5 – schools commended admission to their kindergarten classes. Institutions affiliated to the ABE, however, boycotted admission.

The ABE also claims that the civic authorities, with whom private schools must register, have pressurising private educational institutions to enforce the now suspended 80-20 neighbourhood policy for admission to Std I as well. The policy pertaining to Std I had also been held in abeyance when the suspension of Section 5 had been announced by the minister.

Refusing to succumb to the civicauthorities, Fr Pereira says, “This will not be entertained. We shall conduct admissions in primary classes as we have been doing Catholic schools all these years.” Admitting that schools have not been intimated of the suspension of Section 5, relating to both pre-primary classes and Std I, sources in Mantralaya said the government will soon amend the government resolution (GR) dated June 18, 1997, which had asked schools to implement the neighbourhood policy during admission to Std I.

“However, following reservations expressed by municipalities in Pune and Mumbai in the absence of neighbourhoods of equal distance for every school and the education minister’s announcement in the Assembly about the sectional suspension of the act, we have asked for permission from the Law Department to amend the GR by deletion of this portion. Permission has been granted and an amended GR will be issued soon,” the sources said.

He said the relevant amendments are being made in the act in accordance with the minister’sstatement. Section 5 will be deleted and additions by way of giving preferences to children of teachers and siblings of former students, will be made. The amendments, already cleared by the Department of Law and Judiciary, are now pending Cabinet approval. However, the government will in all likelihood refuse to suspend the act in its entirety, he said.