The schools can not take entrance examination for the students seeking admissions in Class I to Class VIII. The Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009 prohibits the entrance examination but the private schools here are openly flouting this rule and are taking the entrance tests.
The admission season in the schools of Dehradun has started and to prevent schools from taking admission tests the Chief Education Officer (CEO) of Dehradun S P Khali has ordered that strict action would be taken against those schools that are not following the rules of RTE. The education department can initiate actions against the erring school management under RTE. The department can impose a monetary penalty of Rs 25000 of and can even recommend cancellation of recognition to the respective boards. Khali told The Pioneer that he has asked District education officers (DEO’s) and Block Education Officers (BEO’s) to keep a close watch on the schools and initiate action against those found taking entrance tests. The parents can lodge a written complaint in the office of DEO on which the department initiates action against the school concerned.
The famous private schools however are taking the entrance examination albeit in garb of assessment tests of students seeking admissions. Admission in charge of a famous school of the city on condition of anonymity told this correspondent that the big schools are flooded with large number of applicants seeking admissions in limited number of seats. “After a proper assessment we pick the best students out of the lot” he claimed.
The parents too are not aware of the rules regarding prohibition of admission entrance tests. Arti Balodi mother of a seven year girl told The Pioneer that she has taken her daughter to three schools for admission tests this year. It is interesting to note that the DEO office here has not received a single complaint against schools conducting entrance examinations.