HYDERABAD: Taking a tough stance against admission-cum-scholarship tests conducted by two major private players in education — Narayana Educational Institutions and Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions — the Telangana School Education Department on Saturday put the screening procedures on hold, a day before they could be conducted.
The department pointed out that conducting such a test is in violation of Rule 13 of the Right to Education Act, 2009. The proceedings — issued by the Regional Joint Director of School Education, K Lingaiah — pointed out that as per the Rule, any school that “subjects a child to a screening procedure, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to Rs 25,000 for the first contravention and Rs 50,000 for each subsequent contraventions.” Also, school managements must not collect capitation fee as per the RTE Act, it stated.
The department directed the two private players to put on hold their admission-cum-scholarship tests until further orders. The proceedings were issued after a meeting was held between the managements of the two schools and the Regional Joint Director on the same day. While the Narayana Educational Institutions has been conducting the Narayana Scholastic Aptitude Test (NSAT) for Classes V to XII since 2007, the Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions holds the Sri Chaitanya Outstanding Achiever Reward Examination (SCORE).