{"id":61809,"date":"2025-09-03T12:34:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T07:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=61809"},"modified":"2025-09-03T12:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T07:04:04","slug":"rte-act-and-minority-schools-supreme-court-questions-pramati-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/rte-act-and-minority-schools-supreme-court-questions-pramati-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"RTE Act and Minority Schools: Supreme Court Questions Pramati Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>RTE Act and Minority Schools Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court has cast doubt on its <\/span><b>2014 Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust judgment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which had exempted minority educational institutions from the <\/span><b>Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A two-judge Bench, while ruling on whether the <\/span><b>Teacher Eligibility Test (TET)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was mandatory for minority schools, referred the matter to a larger Bench for reconsideration.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The court noted that excluding minority schools from the RTE Act\u2019s ambit may have <\/span><b>compromised children\u2019s fundamental right to quality education<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, raising concerns about equal access to standards of learning.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Supreme Court\u2019s TET Ruling: Minority Schools and In-Service Teachers<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court, while ruling in <\/span><b>Anjuman Ishaat-e-Taleem Trust v. State of Maharashtra<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, addressed two key issues:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Minority schools &amp; RTE Act<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The Bench referred to a larger Bench the question of whether the RTE Act applies to minority schools, casting doubt on the 2014 Pramati judgment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>In-service teachers in non-minority schools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Teachers with less than 5 years of service left may continue without clearing the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), but must pass it for promotions.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teachers with more than 5 years left must clear TET within two years to remain eligible.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This nuanced order balanced continuity of service with the need to uphold minimum teacher qualification standards.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Supreme Court Flags Concerns Over Pramati Ruling<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court criticised the <\/span><b>2014 Pramati judgment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, calling it \u201clegally suspect\u201d and \u201cdisproportionate\u201d for exempting all minority institutions from the RTE Act based largely on Section 12(1)(c), which mandates 25% reservation for disadvantaged children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bench highlighted the conflict between <\/span><b>Article 30(1)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (minority institutions\u2019 rights) and <\/span><b>Article 21A<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (children\u2019s fundamental right to education).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It stressed that <\/span><b>both rights \u201cmust co-exist mutually\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> instead of treating Article 30(1) as an absolute override, as the Pramati ruling had done.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>2014 Pramati Ruling: Key Takeaways<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The five-judge Bench examined:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>86th Amendment (2002):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Introduced Article 21A, making education a fundamental right.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>93rd Amendment (2005):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Introduced Article 15(5), allowing the state to provide special provisions for backward classes, SCs, and STs in all institutions except minority schools.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bench <\/span><b>upheld both amendments<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, recognising education as a right and permitting state intervention for disadvantaged groups.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, it ruled that the <\/span><b>RTE Act was unconstitutional for minority schools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (aided or unaided) protected under <\/span><b>Article 30(1)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Rationale for Exemption<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court reasoned that imposing Section 12(1)(c) \u2014 reserving 25% seats for disadvantaged children \u2014 could <\/span><b>dilute the minority character of such schools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It emphasised that minority institutions have the fundamental right to establish and administer schools of their choice, and this must remain safeguarded.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Key Provisions and Spirit of the RTE Act<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Right to Education (RTE) Act<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> guarantees free and compulsory education for children aged 6\u201314. It mandates:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Free education in government schools and proportionate free seats in aided schools.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>25% seat reservation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in private unaided schools for disadvantaged children, with state reimbursement (<\/span><b>Section 12(1)(c)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minimum standards for pupil-teacher ratios, trained teachers, infrastructure, and libraries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A ban on corporal punishment and capitation fees, making all schools responsible for universal education.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to experts, the Act is <\/span><b>child-centric, not institution-centric<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, prioritising the <\/span><b>fundamental right of every child<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over the administrative autonomy of schools.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Misuse of Pramati Exception and Renewed Judicial Push for Inclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A study by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights showed that only 8.76% of students in minority schools were from disadvantaged groups, while 62.5% were non-minority.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This indicates that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">many institutions claimed minority status without serving their communities, yet benefited from exemption to RTE mandates<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the RTE Act (2010), private and minority groups challenged the 25% quota.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the <\/span><b>2012 ruling exempted unaided minority schools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>2014 Pramati ruling extended this exemption to all minority schools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, creating loopholes for elite private schools to adopt a minority label to avoid compliance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts noted that such institutions ignored disadvantaged children, undermining the spirit of RTE.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They emphasised that the latest SC ruling rightly realigns with children\u2019s rights, ensuring that students in minority schools also benefit from norms on libraries, pupil-teacher ratios, and qualified teachers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/explained-rte-and-minority-schools-10226838\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/minority-schools-exempt-rte-sc-question-2014-judgment-10226430\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court questions the Pramati ruling exempting minority schools from RTE Act. Fresh review seeks balance between children\u2019s rights and minority rights in education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":61847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,2480,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-61809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-rte-act-and-minority-schools","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}