No Admission Test For Pre-Primary Classes in Manipur

Imphal, Feb 2 : State advisory council on rights to free and compulsory education in Manipur has decided not to allow schools, including Catholic schools, to conduct admission test for enrolment of students in pre-primary classes, official sources said on Saturday.

Sources said the council whose chairman is state Education Minister M Okendra, took the decision in a meeting chaired by the minister on Thursday.

During the meeting, Okendra stressed on the importance of making the right to education Act (RTEA) inclusive and meaningful in the state, sources said.

With a view to this, the meeting decided to appeal to educational institutes particularly catholic school society (CSS) not to conduct admission test for enrolment of students to pre-primary classes from this academic year, sources said.

As for the coming years, the matter would be decided after a joint consultation with academicians, legal experts and authorities of catholic schools, sources said.

CSS sources said they had already advertised for admission test for pre-primary students but following the appeal from the parents associations and authorities, they had suspended the admission test.

They said under the Right to Education Act and ruling of Supreme Court, minority-run schools had the power to conduct admission test which they have been doing it over the years. However, sources said they had suspended the admission test following appeal from the authorities and parents associations.

Official sources said educational institutions including Catholic schools, would be subjected to government action if they did not follow the decision of the state advisory council on rights to free and compulsory education.