SC: RTE exemption for schools to be reviewed

The Supreme Court on Monday expressed second thoughts about its own decision of 2014 exempting aided and unaided minority schools from implementing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (RTE Act) and referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for reconsideration.

- Abraham Thomas

‘A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan said, “We hasten to observe with utmost humility at our command that the decision in Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust (2014) might have, unknowingly, jeopardised the very foundation of universal elementary education. Exemption of minority institutions from the RTE Act leads to fragmentation of the common schooling vision and weakening of the idea of inclusivity and universality envisioned by Article 21A.”

The court passed the order while considering a batch of petitions from the high courts of Bombay and Madras on the issue whether the teachers in minority schools should be required to undertake the mandatory teachers eligibility test (TET) as required by the orders passed from time to time by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE).

The court went on to hold that TET will be mandatory for teachers in all schools, except minority schools, both aided and unaided, which are currently governed by the 2014 judgment.