NEW DELHI: Taken to court for forcing its decision on fee waiver for the single girl child on private schools affiliated to it, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has now adopted the path of persuasion.

Instead of making it mandatory, the Board has in a circular issued on March 22 asked private schools to consider waiving tuition fee for the single girl child from Classes IX to XII.

In October 2005, the CBSE had made affiliation dependent on tuition fee waiver for the single girl child from Classes VI to XII.

An amendment was introduced in the Affiliation By-laws of the Board as per which all schools had to grant full waiver of fees (including tuition fee and other fees under any head except the meals and transportation fee) to every single girl child on their rolls from Class VI.

Minority institutions

The amendment was to come into effect from this academic year. However, Delhi's Carmel Convent went to court, stating that the decision could not be forced on it as it was a minority institution. The Delhi High Court stayed the CBSE decision even as other schools — which are members of the National Progressive Schools' Conference — were planning to follow Carmel Convent since there was no financial aid from the Government to subsidise the waiver. Now that the CBSE has removed the mandatory clause, the court has disposed of the case.

The Board's contention for introducing this waiver was to correct the adverse sex ratio and the discrimination against the girl child in the matter of education — as evident from the higher dropout rate among girls across various levels of schooling and college.

Besides, schools were asked to consider offering 50 per cent tuition fee waiver to girls coming from two-child families where both children are girls.

Voluntary waiver

The scheme will still be implemented in all Kendriya Vidyalayas from Classes VI. For private schools, the waiver is not only voluntary; they have also been asked to consider it from only Class IX. While this concession has been made in view of the court case, all schools will have to implement a new scholarship scheme from this year.

As per this, single girl children who secure more than 60 per cent marks in their Class X examination from 2006 will get a scholarship of Rs. 500 a month for Classes XI and XII in schools which charged up to Rs. 1,000 a month in the last academic year.

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