Kids Denied Admission In Govt Schools: Delhi HC Seeks Status Report

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi government to consider holding camps for enrolling children of school-going age in its schools.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal was hearing a PIL by Social Jurist, a civil rights group, highlighting that a large number of children were being turned away by Delhi government schools on flimsy grounds.

Advocate and activist Ashok Agarwal told the court that he was forced to move the PIL after he was approached by 40 children who were denied admission in Delhi government schools in their neighbourhood.

He provided a list of such children to the court. The bench asked the government to ascertain the correctness of the list and check if they were actually denied admission on flimsy grounds and called for a status report in this regard.

Agarwal also suggested that the government may call a camp so as to encourage and facilitate these children to go to school. "There appears to be substance in the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner. Mr. Naushad Ahmed Khan, learned additional standing counsel for the GNCTD, assures this court that the suggestion of the petitioner would be placed before the competent authority for consideration," the bench noted.

The PIL claimed that despite the constitutional and statutory mandate of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, about 6 to 8 lakh school age children were not going to school. It said several children of Kapsahera, Delhi etc., in the age group of 6 to 14 years, were denied admission by Delhi government schools nearby their residence in utter violation of the provisions of the Act.

It said children were denied admission by schools on the grounds of non-availability of residential proof, original transfer certificate, report card, Aadhaar card, birth proof and bank account and "such an action on the part the respondent goes contrary to the provisions of RTE Act, 2009".