For the last two years, the parents of Jiya Dhulgaj, 8, have been trying to get her admitted to an English-medium school in Vakola under the Right To Education quota. After being refused by several schools in Vakola, Karamjeet and Heena Dhulgaj, who stay in a chawl near Vakola Masjid in Valmiki Nagar, approached State Education Minister Vinod Tawde but failed to get help.
The Dhulgajs have been working as housekeeping staff for the past eight years in an office in Satyadev Building, Andheri. Heena, 29, earns Rs. 7,700 per month while Karamjeet, 30, earns Rs. 8,400. Heena said, “I have been running from pillar to post for my daughter’s admission, but in vain. The principal of a school told me that there is no vacancy in Class III. We are ready to repeat a year, but most schools don’t even entertain us.”
“I don’t want our daughter to be stuck as I have been for the last 30 years. At one school, the principal told me to try elsewhere; at most schools, I wasn’t allowed to meet the principal,” Karamjeet added.
The Right to Education Act, 2009 guarantees the right of children from economically backward families to get free and compulsory education and mandates private schools to reserve at least 25 per cent seats for such children, without charging tuition fees. The website of the state government’s school admission and sports department shows 6,409 applicants for 317 schools in Mumbai region, of which 2,100 had been admitted in the academic year 2016-17 under the 25 per cent RTE quota.
Jiya is now staying with her 90-year-old grandmother in Nalla Sopara, as she managed to get admission there in an English medium school. “It’s difficult for Jiya to stay away from me. When my mother falls sick, she has to miss the school for eight to 10 days, which affects her education,” said Heena, who is also worried that in a year or two, she will also have to send her four-year-old son to Nalla Sopara for a better education.
The Dhulgajs’s plight came to light when Vaibhav Vishal, an independent creative consultant, first tweeted on July 6 on how the poor have nowhere to go even if they want to educate their children. Mr. Vishal works with film distribution firm Eros International, whose office is in Satyadev building where the couple work.
Mr. Vishal said, “On one occasion, Heena brought Jiya to Eros International, where I was the CEO, and I came to know about the issue. I have been trying to help them since December. We have gone to 10 to 12 schools and I have tried to get the attention of Minister of Higher & Technical Education Vinod Tawde on Twitter, in vain.”
He added, “Most people discriminate on the basis of social class; they fear for their class by giving admission to a janitor’s daughter. I’m helping them of my own will. I’m ready to sponsor Jiya’s education, but her parents have too much self-respect to accept monetary help. This is a very progressive family and we owe it to them.”
Karamjeet said, “We don’t want to name the schools. We don’t want to fight; we just want our daughter to get admission [to an English medium school] in Vakola so she can get a better education while staying with us.”
Jayant Jain, president, Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE), said, “By this time, most schools are done with admissions and few seats are vacant. But if the girl has applied in February or March and was still denied admission, she can seek redressal from the government provided the school is within 1.5 km of her residence. She can approach the director of the Child Rights Commission directly.”
Mr. Jain said Jiya’s case is not new, as the demand exceeds supply. “In many schools, seats are available but they sell the seats and charge a hefty amount for that as ‘donation’. The whole process has been commercialised. There are a lot of manipulations. If you go to the school directly, they will deny you the admission. But if you go through the agent and pay the amount, admission is given immediately,” he said.
The FFE, an NGO fighting commercialisation and corruption in education sector, has filed more than 55 PILs in the Supreme Court and High Court.
“The government is not aware. There is no monitoring of schools. The education officers don’t know how many students left the school this year and whether there is any vacancy or not. The data is not available with the education department, so the schools are manipulating it,” alleges Mr. Jain.
The writer is an intern at The Hindu
