Parents say Sett Rustomjee Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Primary School handed around 20 students leaving certificates along with Std IV results, even though they got promoted
The parents of a few students of Sett Rustomjee Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Primary School, Princess Street have alleged that it has handed over leaving certificates to their children after the Std IV result. The parents claim that the school, which generally admits primary students to the secondary section, conducted a test this time to determine if the child was eligible to take admission to Std V. After the test, some students were allegedly given leaving certificates even though they passed the exam. The aggrieved parents have complained to the BMC education officer.
A leaving certificate given to one of the students, which states that the student has been promoted but has to leave school to “join elsewhere”
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Even as several regulations have been brought into schools in Maharashtra, every day different complaints are surfacing about schools’ inflexible stands on issues such as fees, admissions, etc. While the Right To Education (RTE) Act states that no child between the age group 6-14 years can be asked to leave school under any circumstances, parents of around 20 students of this school are in a fix as their children have allegedly been asked to leave.
Mohammad Usman, one of the worried parents said, “With the result of Std IV, the school also handed over leaving certificates to us. The school has written in the certificate that the child has passed Std IV. Yet, they are saying that the child is not eligible to take admission in the school’s secondary section. It is May now. There is no way of finding another school that will admit these children now.”
Adding to this, another parent, Halima Khan said, “The school’s secondary section conducted a test for children to determine their admission to Std V. But after the test, we were told that our kids cannot get admission. Now which school will take them in Std V, especially when admission season is nearing the end in all nearby schools?”
“We have complained to the education officer. We are also going to approach the police because, as per the RTE, children cannot be asked to leave school,” added Usman, who also said that on Monday, the parents are to gather at the school to protest if authorities don’t resolve the issue.
Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education, an NGO that is helping these parents, said, “Neither can school authorities ask a child to leave the school under any circumstances, nor can they take any test to determine admission to a class. These regulations are mentioned in the RTE Act.”
Repeated attempts to call the school went without answer. Education officer Prakash Charate said, “The school cannot take such a test. We will look into the matter."
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