In the Court of State Commissioner for Persons with
Disabilities
National
Capital Territory of Delhi
25-
D, Mata Sundari Road, Near Guru Nanak Eye Centre, New Delhi
Phone-011-23216002-04,
Telefax: 011-23216005,
[Vested with powers of Civil Court under the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act,
2016]
Case No.
815/1032/2019/03/3668-3670 Dated:23.07.2019
In
the matter of:
Sh. Ashwani Porwal,
RZ- 6A/230, J-Block West Sagarpur,
New Delhi-110046. .....Complainant
Versus
The Principal,
Jindal Public School,
Dashrathpuri,
New Delhi-110045. ........Respondent No.1
The Director,
Department of Education,
GNCT of Delhi,
Old Sectt., Delhi-110054. ......Respondent No.2
Date
of hearing: 18.07.2019
Present: Sh.
Ashwani Porwal, Complainant.
Dr.
Mukesh, DDE (IEB) for Respondent no. 2.
Order
The
above named complainant, father of Master Ayush Porwal, a person with moderate
intellectual disability with challenging behaviour vide his complaint dated
26.03.2019 submitted that his son is six years and 10 months of age. He has been allotted Jindal Public School, Dashrathpuri
under 3% reserved seats for children with disability. He does not want to admit his son in the
school as there is no special educator and related staff and equipment. He also submitted that he spoke to the
principal on 14.03.2019, who expressed apprehension that his son may harm other
children in the school. Therefore he
would not send his son to that school.
He requested that his son may be admitted in some other regular school
in nursery where he can study with children of nursery class and where there
are facilities for teaching children with special needs (Autistic) like St.
Marry Dwarka or Golden Jubilee, Suborto Park, New Delhi. If it is not possible, he should be exempted
from paying Rs. 4125/- to Tamanna Autism Centre where his son currently studies.
2. The complaint was taken up under the
provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, hereinafter
referred to as “Act” with the respondents vide notice dated 04.04.2019.
3. Principal, Jindal Pubic School,
Dashrathpuri, Dwarka vide his reply letter dated 06.04.2019 submitted as under:
“Sir,
In reply to the Show cause
notice, it is submitted that the complaint dated 26.03.2019, is false,
frivolous and based on concocted facts.
Sh. Ashwini Porwal has intentionally, deliberately and with ulterior
motive, has alleged that Sh. Ashwini Porwal met the undersigned and the
undersigned has discouraged Sh. Ashwini Porwal from admitting his child in
Jindal Public School. It is pertinent to
mention that Sh. Ashwini Porwal has never met and/or approached the undersigned
in respect to the admission of his ward or in connection to any other matter
thereof. As a matter of fact, his ward
has allotted to Jindal Public School and the undersigned has always been ready
and willing to adhere to the rules and regulations framed by the
authorities. In other words, the School
has no issues whatsoever, in case, the said child is willing to take admission
in our School.
Thanking you
Principal
Jindal Public School”
4.
Vide his rejoinder dated 15.04.2019,
the complainant stated that he is rejecting the allotted school on his own due
to unavailability of required resources.
He reiterated that his son should be admitted to one of the schools
mentioned in his complaint where facilities like Tamanna Autism Centre are
available or Directorate of Education should get the fee exempted at Tamanna
Autism Centre.
5. In view of the rejoinder of the
complainant it was decided to close the complainant. However, the complainant vide his letter
dated 21.05.2019 insisted that Directorate of Education ignored the requirement
of his son and the alternative of allotting his son to some other school. In view of this a hearing was scheduled on 07.06.2019. The complainant reiterated his written
submissions and added that before filing a complaint in this Court, he had submitted
a representation to Dy. Director, Private School Branch, Directorate of
Education on 25.03.2019. The officer of
the Private School Branch recorded on his representation that “Candidate shall
be admitted as per guidelines issued vide Circular dated 27.02.2019” and marked
it to S.O. (Jindal Public School). As he
did not want to admit his son to that school even then and as he was not sure
about the safety and proper education of his child in that school, he did not
submit the representation with the said remarks to the School.
6. Sh. Banne Singh, UDC who appeared on
behalf of the Jindal Public School, submitted that two children with
disabilities were allotted to the school by
DoE for admission in 1st standard for the academic year
2019-20. The other child, Master Mohnish
S/o Sh. Darshan Singh has been admitted and is attending classes regularly.
Master Ayush Porwal has not yet reported for admission. He further submitted that children with
disabilities have been allotted to their school for the first time. Presently,
the school does not have special educator and other facilities / equipments for
teaching / learning of children with disabilities. As per him, now that children with
disabilities have started coming for admission, the school will make necessary
arrangements like appointment of special educators.
7. The Directorate of Education was directed
to submit why the child with Autism was admitted to a school that did not have
facilities for teaching such children and how teaching and learning of master
Ayush Porwal would be ensured. The
Principal of the School was also directed to submit by 21.06.2019, the details
of facilities that the school proposed to put in place to ensure that master
Ayush Porwal and other children with disabilities are taught on equal basis
with other children. The matter was posted
for hearing on 11.07.2019, which was rescheduled on 18.07.2019.
8. Deputy Director of Education (IEB),
District South West-B, Najafgarh, New Delhi vide letter dated 09.07.2019
submitted that—
“As
per RTE Act 2009 and guidelines issued by DOE, 25% seats are reserved for
EWS/DG/CWSN category candidates in Private Recognized Unaided Schools. Ayush Porwal s/o Ashwani Porwal was allotted
Jindal Public School through Computerized Draw of lots conducted by DoE for
EWS/DG including 3% for CWSN category candidates. The school was allotted 25% seats under
EWS/DG including 3% CWSN category wherein name of Ayush Porwal appeared in the
allotted list of Jindal Public School.
The school has stated that a notice from Disability
Commission was received by them and Sh. Banne Singh, UDC of the school attended
the hearing on 07.06.2019 in the Disability Commission wherein the complainant
himself refused to get admitted his ward in the said school and submitted that
since facilities needed for his child is not available at Jindal Public School,
his ward may be retained at Tamana Autism Centre with free ship facility.
Under provision of 12 (1)
(c) a school specified in sub clause (iii) and (iv) of clause(es) of section
shall admit to the extent of at least twenty five percent of the strength for
candidates under EWS/DG/CSN and Tamana Autism Centre is not specified in sub
clause (iii) and (iv) of clause (n) of section (2).
The complainant has
requested for change of school but there is no provision for change of school
once allotted under EWS/DG/CWSN category admission. Further, school is ready to admit the child
but parent of the child is not willing for the same.
Deputy
Director of Education
District
South West-B
Najafgarh,
New Delhi-43”
9. Deputy Director
of Education (IEB) vide letter dated 10.07.2019 has submitted that—
“Master Ayush Porwal is a
child with Mental retardation with features of Autism. He was allotted Jindal
Public School, Dashrathpuri, Delhi through the online admission process for
CWSN and the allotment of schools has been done through computerised
system. The unified system of admission
of CWSN is being followed in compliance to the order of the Hon’ble High Court
of Delhi dated 03.04.2014 in WPC 1225/2014 titled as Pramod Arora Vs Hon’ble LG
of Delhi and Ors. Further, based on the
judgment in the WPC 1225/2014 dated 21.02.2018 the Directorate of Education
(DoE) has reserved 3% of seats under EWS/DG category in Private Un-aided
Recognized Schools in Delhi for Children with disabilities with prior approval
of the Hon’ble L.G. vide notification dated 23rd July 2018.
In this regard it is also
submitted that the DoE has issued directions to all Private un-aided Recognized
Schools to appoint Special Education Teachers and provide Barrier free
Environment to Children with Disabilities vide order dated 19.02.2013.”
In addition to the above,
the Section 16 of the Rights of Person with Disabilities Act, 2016 states that the
appropriate Government and the local authorities shall endeavour that all
educational institutions funded or recognized by them provide inclusive
education to the children with disabilities.
In view of the above facts,
all private un-aided recognized schools should provide appropriate inclusive
education to children with disabilities as provided in Section 16 of the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
This issues with the prior
approval of the Director (Education), GNCTD.
(Dr.
MUKESH CHAND)
DEPUTY
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION (IEB)”
10. During the hearing on 19.07.2019, the
complainant reiterated his submissions and added that it is not possible for
him to produce any evidence
in support of his submission about the conversation between him and the
Principal as the School does not allow mobile phone inside the company.
11. As the Principal/ his representative was
not present and no compliance report had been received, the Principal of the
school was contacted on telephone. He
informed that the school has appointed a Special Educator and the other child
who is also with intellectual disability, is attending the school. Since the father of the child does not want
to admit his son in the school, he has no further comments to make.
12. Section 16 of the Act, which mandatory, provides
as under:
“The appropriate Government and the local authorities
shall endeavour that all educational institutions funded or recognised by them
provide inclusive education to the children with disabilities and towards that
end shall—
(i)
admit them without discrimination
and provide education and opportunities for sports and recreation activities
equally with others;
(ii)
make building, campus and various
facilities accessible;
(iii)
provide reasonable accommodation
according to the individual’s requirements;
(iv)
provide necessary support
individualised or otherwise in environments that maximise academic and social
development consistent with the goal of full inclusion;
(v)
ensure that the education to
persons who are blind or deaf or both is imparted in the most appropriate
languages and modes and means of communication;
(vi)
detect specific learning
disabilities in children at the earliest and take suitable pedagogical and
other measures to overcome them;
(vii)
monitor participation, progress in
terms of attainment levels and completion of education in respect of every
student with disability;
(viii) provide transportation facilities to the
children with disabilities and also the attendant of the children with
disabilities having high support needs.”
13. In addition to providing inclusive
education and the necessary facilities required for it as enumerated in Section
16 of the Act, Govt. of NCT of Delhi has reserved 3% seats for children with
disabilities in recognized private schools.
14. It is a fact that all the private or
government schools do not have the required facilities as envisaged in Section
16 of the Act for teaching and learning of children with various disabilities
especially those with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, learning
disability, deafness and blindness, etc.
In the circumstances, the following recommendations are made:
i)
Directorate of Education should set
a reasonable time frame, in the order of priority, in respect of all the
schools for making them fully inclusive schools. Until then, allocation of children with
disabilities should be done based on mapping of availability of relevant facilities
in the schools.
ii)
While it may not be possible to
accept the request of every parent to allocate the school of their choice, flexibility
in accommodating the requests for the purpose of ensuring equitable quality
education to a child with a particular disability should be adopted subject to
reasonable constraints like availability of seats. Provision for such accommodation should be incorporated
in the procedure for draw of lots.
iii)
The recommendation for admission to a
grade/class should also take care of the existing provision for relaxation in
upper age limit upto 9 years in respect of children with disabilities.
15. In view of the assurance by the school and
the instructions of the Directorate of Education and the mandatory nature of
the provisions of Section 16 of the Act, complainant should admit his son to
the allotted school and the school should provide the necessary teaching and
learning facilities. It goes without
saying that Director of Education would have an appropriate mechanism to
monitor provisions in the school and proper implementation. As regards, the apprehension of the
complainant about the security of his son in the school, it is the duty of the
school to ensure safety and well being of all children. I am sure, the Principal of the school shall
assure the parents once the child is admitted and he becomes the student of
that school.
16. This Court/complainant be informed of the
action taken on the recommendation as required under Section 81 of the Act.
17. The complaint is disposed of.
18. Given under my hand and the seal of the
Court this 23nd day of July, 2019.
(T.D. Dhariyal)
State
Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities
