Alphabet K

Unethical Practices in kindergartens in India: What is a kindergarten? An establishment where children below the age of compulsory education play and learn.In India it falls under the purview of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD). The government allows 100% FDI in the education sector. Unethical Practices: Admission Process: 1. Parents are asked to purchase costly admission forms separately for each institute. Cost ranges from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1500 per form. 2. Institutions are required to conduct admissions for pre-primary sections based on first-comefirstserve basis butaround 85 per cent schools have openly conducted interviews for students and their parents last year in Maharashtra.Parents are asked to get a Character Clearance Certificate from the local police station. 3. Instead of admitting kids from the nearby locality preferential admission is given to people living in rich localities. Parents are asked to purchase uniforms, study material from school merchandiser only at price higher than the market price of the goods. Fee structure in many institutes is unrealistic. Some top institutes are known to charge as high as Rs.2.5 lacks per annum. Pick and drop facilities for kids are mostly given to transporters without much scrutiny. Many institutes have do not have full time child counselors. Institutes are known to organize unreasonably large number of extra-curricular activities more for promoting their institute brand rather than actual development of the kids. Legal Loopholes: The question of extending the RTE Act, 2009 to pre-school education was brought before the Supreme Court in Society for Unaided Private Schools in Rajasthan v Union of India. However, the express language of Article 21A which excludes children outside the 6-14 age-groups limited the extension of the Act. The exclusive applicability of Section 12 (1) (c) of the RTE Act, 2009 in preschool education under this judgment is questionable. The limitation of the Court to include preschool education within the scope of the RTE Act, 2009 brings us to also question the wisdom of having separate laws governing pre-school and elementary education.