Two parents, one a hawker and the other a tailor, who badly wanted their children to have a better education, staged a protest at the office of the School Education Department, demanding admission for their children.
K. Chandru, who passed Std. X, is a hawker on Mission Street, while his friend M. Shanmugam, who has only studied up to Std. VI, makes a living as a tailor at Lawspet.
Upset at the failure of the government and officials of the School Education Department to implement the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, that would have guaranteed their wards admission, the duo walked into the Department office at 10.30 a.m. and sat there, along with their children, demanding seats in private schools nearest to their homes.
Mr. Shanmugam, who could not admit his daughter in the RTE category, said: “This protest is not only for our children’s admission and we want the State government to implement the RTE Act in letter and in sprit.”
The police removed the parents and their children from the scene. They were later allowed to go.
