Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE), our schools can be called socially inclusive only when “the children of all classes, rich and poor, partake as equally as possible in the privileges of the school.” Section 12 (1) (c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (the Act) makes it compulsory for every private unaided school to admit at least 25% of its entry level class from children belonging to weaker and disadvantaged groups. For this category of students, the state governments shall reimburse schools an amount equal to either the fees charged by the school or the per child expenditure in state schools, whichever is lower. Centre for Civil Society believes that the most powerful component in the RTE Act is the reservation of 25% seats in private unaided schools across the country for the children of economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups. This has implicitly led to the creation of a National School Voucher program, an idea that CCS has strongly advocated over the last few years, which if executed in the best of its spirit, could go a long way in advancing education.
Centre for Civil Society (CCS) initiated Coalition 25 to help implement the 25% reservation rule in the private unaided schools of Delhi. The Coalition will tie up with corporate foundations and other donor agencies to kick start the projects in some of the popular schools. The first step in this direction is Patang, which is being implemented in partnership with Tech Mahindra Foundation.
About Patang: Patang aims to take our ideas from policy to practice by implementing a holistic inclusion programme (academic and social) in three private schools in Delhi, which can be replicated in the other schools across Delhi and the rest of India. We will identify challenges in implementation of Section 12 (1) (c) of the RTE and develop solutions to address them, which will then be shared with other schools.
Objectives: Provide academic support to students and parents of economically weaker sections, in order to ensure academic inclusion, Social Inclusion in schools, Strengthening systems of communication between the school and the EWS families, and Advocacy among stakeholders including parents of 75% children, school teachers and management
CSR Partner: Tech Mahindra Foundation (TMF): Tech Mahindra Foundation was established in its present form in 2007 by Tech Mahindra as one of the major manifestations of its corporate social responsibility. The Foundation seeks to make a contribution towards provision of quality education and vocational skills to the economically disadvantaged, physically challenged and other vulnerable sections of the society. Women empowerment and the educational needs of the girl child are special areas of concern to TMF. Recognizing that the great majority of children from under-privileged background study in municipal schools, TMF seeks to work towards improvement of these schools. Aware that youth who have studied in vernacular schools are often handicapped in their efforts to move ahead by lack of English language skills, TMF is endeavouring to help them meet this challenge.
School Partners: Tagore International School, Heritage School
