Even 35 years after the State Government issued an order mandating all private schools to implement caste-based reservations in admissions to Plus-One, only 46 per cent of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes have been filled in the city during the current academic year.
Most of the schools have closed admissions.
This has come to light in an interim report filed by a committee constituted by the district administration on May, which conducted inspections in 37 private matriculation schools in the city.
The G.O. 587, dated February 22, 1978, states that all education institutions (under all kinds of managements) must follow the percentages of reservation (SC/ST – 18 and Backward Classes 31) when selecting candidates for admission to Plus-One.
It added that Headmasters of all schools must constitute a committee to implement this order. And these committees should submit details of admissions made under the quota to education officials in the district in August.
Chief Education Officer A. Gnanagowri told The Hindu here on Wednesday that the committee to monitor the implementation of the order has been constituted for the first time in the district this year.
“The efforts made by the committee and the district administration has resulted in the number of SC/ST students admitted to private schools becoming higher this year compared to previous years. The Department of School Education has asked private schools to continue to admit SC/ST students,” she said.
Among the reasons for some of the minority institutions not filling reserved seats was the fear of losing minority status if the total number of students from non-minority communities exceeded those from minority groups in the school, Ms. Gnanagowri added.
District Collector M. Karunagaran had convened a meeting of the Departments of Adi Dravidar Welfare and School Education on May 10, to discuss the implementation of G.O. 587, and G.O. 60 that was issued this year to deal with the admission norms under Right To Education Act, in private and aided schools.
During the meeting, Thamizhaga Dalit People’s Association, a non-governmental organisation, had alleged that many private schools in the district were making admissions to Plus-One solely based on marks and were not adhering to the reservation norms.
The District Collector has instructed the Education Department officials to instruct all schools to follow the caste-based reservation norms while admitting students to Plus-One.
