The Directorate of Education, Government of Goa, has in a poorly worded set of guidelines circulated to schools, apparently intends, to have set at rest, atleast for the forthcoming academic year 2009-10, the turmoil on the outright or clandestinely demanded "donations" by most English medium schools mainly unaided or government aided in the State.
Some of the guidelines required to be prominently displayed on school notice boards before commencement of the education process are General a)Seat availability, & fees payable in the respective classes section wise b)Time table of the admission process c)Marks to be awarded to candidate d)Eligibility list in descending order of merit e)seats at discretion of Management -20% of those available. f)Minority run schools to follow existing criteria for minority , in case of others, as per these rules, g)seats for SC & ST run schools 50% seats in case of others, as per these rules, h)No written or oral interview i)Grievances to be sorted by the Zonal level Education Authority. Criteria for allotment of marks (read weightage) on a scale of 100 a) children resident within 3,5,8,10 kms of the school 30, 25,20, 15 marks (areas within the radius of the school to be identified and located by the Head of Institution in advance) b) Brothers/sister studying in the same school c) parents ex students of the school, d) children of staff office bearers and employee of the management e) either parent ex student of the school f) transferable employee all above are awarded 10 marks respectively. g) any other conditions by Management of the school - 20 marks h) Children of Below Poverty Line , Economically Weaker Section, Ex servicemen to be given preference i)Students who excelled in sports at state and district level extracurricular activities and talent to be given preference. j)Sufficient time to pay fees and if child desirous of joining another school the fees to be refunded promptly less admission fees REQUIREMENT FROM PARENTS/GUARDIANS a) Document in proof any one either ration card, domicile certificate from Revenue department, Electoral Photo Identity card, Telephone bill, property tax receipt etc b)Ex-student document, proof of disability, SC/ST – duplicate caste certificates c)Transfer order While schools are in the process of detailing the above for the smooth conduct of admissions, some schools have already finished the process. With the common man armed with the Right to Information Act 2005 and deterrent punishments of heavy fines on the erring Public Information Officer concerned, there is an appreciable transparency expected. However some schools have already finalised their I std admissions but the issue of admission to St V would be have to go as per the guidelines once the results are declared term end. Pre-Primary schools kindergartens do not come within the ambit of the admission policy and the Government has yet to tackle this issue. The acceptance of the demand made by teachers to implement the VI Pay Commission recommendation and rightly so, to the teachers, has inadvertently burdened the management of unaided English medium schools. Government run schools in the regional languages Marathi and Konkani (devanagari script) have little or no takers as it is proved beyond doubt that English medium attracts the highest demand today. Hence the astronomical fee hike almost in the range 45 % pushed onto the parents irrespective of their economic standing has come as a shock to most parents. Left with no other alternative they may have to put them in government aided schools to learn Marathi or the language understood by a miniscule community Konkani in devanagari. Others economically backward would end up either unlettered or turn vagabonds or street urchins. We at SGPIAG have decided to ensure that students are not in any way affected due to these guidelines and in the event of any difficulties they could approach us for any assistance. In our considered opinion in view of the huge influx of migrants within municipal limits of cities and towns in Goa, there is a remote possibility that children of migrants may have better preferences for admissions in city /town based English medium schools than those coming from our villages. This perhaps could stir a hornets nest demanding of the Department of Education to arrest this trend by sensitising the Zonal level Education authority to report immediately such trends. There could be apprehension that 20% seat reservation for Managements and scope for School Management's laying their own guidelines could also open a Pandora's box which PTA's should keep on check. For SOUTH GOA PUBLIC INTEREST ACTION GROUP Regd No 171/GOA/2000 dt 12.12.2000 sd/- TERENCE MAZARELO PRESIDENT (SGPIAG) 1st Flr Benlix Bldg Opp Fatima Convent Margao Goa India [email protected] weblink http://mumbai.sancharnet.in/manojnd FAX +91 832 2712430 HELPLINE (24 hrs) 9822158584 Tel +91 832 2731373 (O) TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GOA/INDIA visit:www.goidirectory.nic.in,www.goagovt.nic.in Bollywood news, movie reviews, film trailers and more! Go to http://in.movies.yahoo.com/
