Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/children-see-unshackling-device-in-rte-shruthi-hm-14899.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Children see unshackling device in RTE-Shruthi HM | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Children see unshackling device in RTE-Shruthi HM
-The Deccan Herald

25 pc quota in pvt schools will open floodgates of opportunities, say children
 
Private school managements have decided to seek an year’s time for the implementation of the Supreme Court order over providing 25 per cent reservation for students from “weaker sections”.

With hardly a month left for the new academic year to start, officials have their hands full, trying to figure out the best way to implement the Right to Education Act (RTE).

Amidst many doubts expressed about its implementation, students from humble backgrounds in the city believe that the reservation measure would go a long way in securing their future. 

Arjun, Shwetha, Akshay and Hemanth, students from settlements for poorer sections around Adugodi, spoke to Deccan Herald about what they think of the 25 percent reservation for children from poorer economic backgrounds in non-minority aided and unaided private schools. 

The students’ parents are daily wage labourers and the children constantly face the threat of being thrown out of school. Though they will not benefit right now from the implementation of the 25 per cent reservation (as in the initial phase, it is proposed only for students entering Class I), they speak for their juniors who will benefit. 

The legal reference of the Right to Education Act means nothing to them. Accessing upmarket schools is still beyond their imagination. “Children like us cannot access such quality education,” says Shwetha, a ninth standard student. Her friends agree. 

Big schools ‘good’ schools 

“I guess big schools will teach more sports. My school teaches only kabaddi and kho-kho,” says Arjun, a class 6 student, who attends a government school in Adugodi.

According to him, the advantage of studying in big schools is that students will be able to learn skating, football and volleyball, apart from being trained in clay modelling. 

“General knowledge will improve if one studies in a quality private school,” says Hemanth, a class 8 student. The prime advantage would be the better teaching of English. Students in these schools are taught to be more disciplined, he says.

Teachers in ‘big’ schools will be more helpful and will clear students’ doubts better, believes Akshay, a class 7 student. He adds that such schools will give a lot of work for students, for which they will have to study for longer hours, eventually placing them well in life.

The students, however, are not carried away by the idea completely. “I believe one can do well in life studying in any school,” says Shwetha, whose dream is to get into a reputed college in the city. 

However, if she did have access to a middle class or an upmarket private school, that would have given her better exposure, making it easy to get into a good institution for higher studies, she says.

Though these students feel that students from poorer economic background might find it tough to cope with what is taught in reputed schools, they do not think it is completely beyond them. 

“Any student will definitely aspire to be among students from affluent families. It will inspire us to do well in studies,” says Akshay. 

In fact, they consider themselves assets among students from various economic backgrounds. Students from poor families tend to focus more on studies, which will be a ‘good influence’ on other students, says Shwetha with pride. 

While the rest of the stakeholders are taking one small step at a time with much scepticism, for these students, the RTE is a gateway for a secure future, if implemented in their favour.