The Supreme Court on Tuesday took exception to what it said was indifference shown by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in implementing its judgment seeking enforcement of a 25% quota for economically weaker students in private schools and asked the chairperson of the statutory body to be present at the next hearing.
The court was monitoring the implementation of its January 13 direction which mandated strict enforcement of the provision under section 12(1)(c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. This provision requires private schools to admit children belonging to weaker and disadvantaged groups in the neighbourhood to the extent of at least 25% of the class strength. The judgment noted that while the NCPCR has a standard operating procedure (SOP), these guidelines are not enforceable. It tasked the NCPCR and the Centre to consider formulating subordinate legislation by issuing necessary rules and regulations, prescribing the method and manner by which the children of weaker and disadvantaged sections are to be admitted in neighbourhood schools.
“Without such enforceable rules and regulations, the object of Article 21A (right to free and compulsory education) of the Constitution of India and the statutory policy under section 12(1)(c) would be a dead letter,” the court said. Not happy with the NCPCR’s approach of gathering responses from the states and UTs, the bench observed, “You have to see that every neighbourhood school implements this concept.”
