Govt to amend Pre-primary Act

Catholic institutions had led the tirade against the government for having failed to mention minority rights in the Act. Their main concern was the admission quotas they have enjoyed over the years.

Schools run by industrial houses for their employees had raised their voice against a clause in the Act which asked them to give preference to children from their neighbourhood. Were they supposed to refuse admissions to the children of their employees if they were staying in a locality away from the school?

Objections were also raised by schools running both nursery and KG sections on similar grounds. The Act, they said, robbed them of their right to give preference to their own students graduating from nursery to KG.

The opposition to the Act was so great that when Express Newsline invited its readers to write in suggesting changes in it, we were flooded with letters. While principals of schools sent letters that spoke of the difficulties they would face in running their institutions if the Act was implemented in toto, parents too expressed concern over some “insensitive” points. The lack of a provision for sibling right (right to admission to a boy/girl in a school in which his bother/sister is already studying) in the Act, they were unanimous, was apalling.

Deshmukh today admitted that there were minor lacunae in the drafting of the Act. Consequently it gave way to some confusion. “Some change is imminent in the face of such genuine grievances, but it will still be minor in nature…the thrust of the Act will not change,” Deshmukh said and added that the Pre-school Act was definitely an improvement on the Anti-capitation Act. “The latter had some weaknesses which have been plugged in the new act,” he said. The minister dismissed the appeals of the Mahamumbai Shikshan Sanstha Sanghatana, which has demanded withdrawal of the Act as it “impinges upon schools’ right to collect donations necessary for their development.”

Meanwhile, Deshmukh said he would increase the frequency of his inspection visits to schools. At the moment, he said, he was focussing on the implementation of prescribed weight for schools bags at the standard one level. “Going by the government approved books for this standard, the weight of the school bag should not be more than one kg,” said Deshmukh.

His other concern is the recently introduced value education from standard one. “Since October when I visited some schools in the Fort area, I have been holding regular discussions with my beat officers and education officers. In the last fortnight, we have inspected 92 schools. While value education classes are being held in all schools, in about seven schools, school bags weighed in excess of the prescribed limit. He said the errant schools will be asked to give explanations.