'Reservation under RTE Act aimed at social inclusion'

Kolkata, Aug 6 (IANS) Batting for the Right to Education (RTE), a top government official Monday said the 25 percent reservation of seats in schools for the economically deprived was a move to enhance social inclusion in educational institutions.

"It is unfortunate to find that the debate on the RTE has been reduced to 25 percent reservation of seats. The rationale behind such a provision is social inclusion. Every school should have a heterogeneous background of children," Vikram Sahay, director for RTE, in the human resource development ministry, said here.

Addressing a seminar titled "RTE - Bane or Boon", Sahay said the provision for reservation was aimed at transforming elementary education's welfare approach to a rights approach, instead of shifting the responsibility from government to private institutions.

Quoting a Supreme Court order, wherein it has held that RTE Act would not apply to unaided minority institutions, Sahay said it was the discretion of the respective state governments to decide which educational intuitions were under the ambit of the act.

Advocating the no-detention policy provided by the act, Sahay said: "If there is right of providing compulsory education to a child, you cannot have detention at the same time."

A national-level benchmark for teachers across the country through the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) has been set up, he added.