Opinion Right to Equality
The Supreme Court verdict on the Right to Education Act,fixing a 25 per cent quota for poor children in all schools except unaided minority institutions,sounds fair on the face of it
Right to Equality
* The Supreme Court verdict on the Right to Education Act,fixing a 25 per cent quota for poor children in all schools except unaided minority institutions,sounds fair on the face of it (Learning curve,IE,April 13). But it leaves several questions unanswered. Can the government compensate private schools for the financial losses they will incur by reserving 25 per cent of the seats for poor children? What will the psychological impact on these disadvantaged children be once they share space with peers from more affluent families? Who will select the children for admission into the elite schools? Is it possible to use the RTE as a social leveller?
M. Ratan New Delhi
* Finally,a Supreme Court bench has upheld the provisions of the RTE Act. It could be an effective weapon to fight poverty in the country. I hope people will gladly accept the 25 per cent reservation for poor children. But I am unable to understand why the RTE should not apply to minority organisations and boarding schools. Why do states encourage the private sector to start schools by giving tax benefits,cheap land and the freedom to fix fees? Would it not be better if the apex court also specified a tuition fee in keeping with the Planning Commissions poverty line? It is also imperative to have checks in place to prevent the misuse of the poor category.
Bidyut K. Chatterjee Faridabad
Road ahead
* Your editorial comments on the state of affairs in Manipur were illuminating. All right thinking citizens have been expecting that the Ibobi Singh government,which won a third term recently,will finally deliver. It will be able to address the issues that plague the state high unemployment,lack of medical facilities,a large number of HIV cases,conflicts between the pro-Naga and pro-Manipuri groups,shortage of essential commodities etc. The latest trend of moral policing by the Keithel Fambi Apunba Lup needs to be checked without delay.
P.R.A. Nair New Delhi
Wake up call
* Of late,Punjabs politicians seem to have woken up from a long slumber. They now talk of the revival of industry in the state. It remains to be seen how many practicable solutions the present government can come up with. The earlier experiment of industrial focal points flopped,resulting in bad debts to banks and other funding agencies. It has rightly been observed that the taxpayers money has been systematically siphoned off in this process. Bank finance,though not scarce,is usually not available at less than 10 per cent per annum. In Punjab,the thrust should be on agro-based industry.
B.B. Goyal Ludhiana
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