Admission To RTE Students In Private Schools Only If No Govt Schools In Neighborhood: Karnataka HC

Karnataka High Court passed a judgement on Right to Education (RTE) which asserted that admission into private unaided schools will be allowed if and only if one’s neighbourhood lacks aided private or government schools.

While the court passed the order on Friday, the judgement was made public on Monday, 3 June. The court rejected PIL petitions filed by Education Rights Trust, an NGO and several students. The petitioners were of the opinion that the recently amended Rule 4(7) Of Karnataka RTE Rules is contradictory to the objective of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (or RTE Act) and should be declared null and void with an immediate effect, while stating it’s a violation of fundamental rights of children guaranteed under Article 21-A.

What did judges say?

Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice PS Dinesh Kumar upheld the constitutionality of amendment of Rule 4 of Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012.

It said, “Education under Article 21A of the Constitution is a fundamental right but petitioners/students have no right of admission to private schools, as long as the government schools, local authorities’ schools or aided schools are available in the neighbourhood,” Live Law reported.

Reason of rejection of the petition

The petitioners were seeking instruction from the State to continue admission under 25% RTE quota in private unaided schools even when government or aided schools exist in the neighbourhood.

The court stated that if the prayer of petitioners is granted, the functioning of the schools, those established by the government, local authorities and the aided schools would be at peril. The petitioners were represented by advocate Manasi Sharma with advocate Nimisha Kumar and respondents by AG Udaya Holla along with AAG D Nagaraj.

Also Read: UP: Private Schools To Not Admit Poor Students Under Right To Education Due To Non-Payment Of Fees By Govt