The Delhi high court on Monday observed that EDMC officers should not be given salaries till writing material, as required under RTE Rules, is provided to over two lakh students in schools run by the
The Delhi high court on Monday observed that EDMC officers should not be given salaries till writing material, as required under RTE Rules, is provided to over two lakh students in schools run by the East Delhi civic body.
The court made the observation while hearing a petition filed by two EDMC school students complaining that the writing material had not been provided to them three months after the start of the academic session. The high court issued a notice to the Delhi government and said that the authorities must respond to the state of affairs.
Some 2,10,000 students in two lakh students studying in 388 primary schools run by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation are yet to receive notebooks or stationery three months after the academic session began.
The sorry state of affairs in the corporation-run schools continues despite the Delhi Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules providing that all students should be given free textbooks, writing material and uniforms. A differently-abled child has to be provided special learning and support material free of cost.
The issue of what “writing material” means and whether it means just notebooks or it also includes stationery is being debated in a petition before the Delhi high court.
“The students of the said schools in the past were given writing material consisting of five subject notebooks and one drawing book. But in academic year 2016-17, not a single notebook has been given to them,” said advocate and activist Ashok Agarwal.
The All-India Parents’ Association has also written to the Delhi chief secretary and the EDMC commissioner, highlighting the problem in its schools.
In a similar case of students of South Delhi Municipal Corporation schools not being issued notebooks, the court had expressed its displeasure and asked how a student was expected to study without a notebook.
“Although the students are studying in primary schools run by the EDMC, it is ultimately the responsibility of the Delhi government to implement the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. It cannot act as mere spectator when poor children are denied their rights,” added Mr Agarwal.
