A WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR’S BATTLE FOR INCLUSION IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR IN UTTAR PRADESH
Samina Bano, CEO & founder of an organization that drives social equity, inclusion and justice by co-shaping public policies & translating them into action.
The story begins with a question? What do we want from schools? So much has changed in our world in the 21st century, but why has education adapted so little in our country with the times?
What if schools had no boundaries and all children irrespective of caste, creed or color were able to study together? Now more than ever we need schools to give the future generation the knowledge and skills to navigate through an ever changing world!
The landmark provision of section 12.1.C of the RTE Act advocates for social inclusion in classrooms by mandating that every recognized non-minority private school to reserve 25% seats in pre-primary to class 1 for children aged 3–7 years, belonging to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Disadvantaged Groups (DG). The schools are reimbursed by the government. This is a unique Public Private Partnership model that aims at equal access and inclusion in classrooms.
It takes an immense amount of idealism, courage and grit to bring about a sustainable change in society. It all dates back to 2013. The situation of education in Uttar Pradesh, was bleak. With a population larger than whole of Brazil research has revealed that the state has approximately 600,000 seats available for vulnerable children (30% of the country’s total of 2.1 million). Poor children could be integrated with the more privileged ones in private schools through the Right to Education Act. However, surprisingly there were only 54 admissions across the state till 2014.
Deciding to take up the challenge Samina put together a team of like-minded individuals ,a key Stakeholders Group. Together, they strived to change the situation. The ground realities of the education sphere in Uttar Pradesh was unclear & the key players fiercely resistant to cooperation. It was an uphill task to partner with those in power for the common good, but even harder to face unexpected negativity from a handful of influential private school lobbies .They stood behind policymaking but had no interest to promote the inclusivity implied in the Right to Education Act.
A note to the State Cabinet was prepared, with inputs from renowned researchers and academicians, meant to be shared with the government stakeholders, however, the note was frisked away & never reached the cabinet. The team’s desperation fueled the short lived enthusiasm of the high and mighty private schools, who felt victorious and vindictive having shown the team ‘their place’.
Samina & team were even more determined to succeed. Idealistic courage was now replaced with strategic plan, perseverance and grit. A Plan B was drawn up which changed the course of things to come in UP. Very soon, an important media coverage ,Outlook magazine,( Edition-September 8th,2014) published the team’s analysis of UP’s situation on education. This managed to create a sense of urgency. The target was to become visible and it had been achieved. The state Government Machinery sat up and took note.
Though our work was recognized and accorded due importance challenges kept surmounting. Soon there ensued the David vs Goliath battle. A powerful private school chain, CMS moved the High Court because they did not want poor children studying along with the elitist kids. Samina & her team were threatened with dire consequences & told to back off. A civil suit was filed against her so she would be scared. Samina was physically attacked, stalked and harassed to such an extent that she had to seek police protection. The team was alone in this battle against the privileged in power. Labeled as foolish,
Samina & her team were fearless and sought justice — justice for all children and not for a select few! Read on to know how the story played out in real life.
Mid April, 2015- After great efforts from Samina, her team, UP government and media, RTE 25% reservation was launched institutionally for the first time in four years. CMS openly defied the ruling with baseless arguments .An order from the DM was marked to the school asking them to admit 13 EWS students in one of their branches.
The clock kept ticking but the school continued to deny admission. The parents of the EWS children were completely supportive of what Samina & her team were doing but unfortunately could not get the school to comply. Meanwhile more children continued to get admitted under RTE across private schools in UP. The admission numbers were swelling with each passing day. On April 16th, 2015 the parents and team staged a protest in Lucknow against CMS. The EWS children were still waiting to get admitted. CMS had already refused admission thrice despite notices from the court.
July 30th, 2015- An entire day was dedicated by the Lucknow High Court to hearing the RTE case — EWS children against Elite School CMS. Pitted against some of the top legal guns of the country such as Shanti Bhushan and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, it was a day of mixed feelings for Samina & her team. They were in awe one moment and plain scared the next. Samina & her team had Zafaryab Jilani, Additional Advocate General, Uttar Pradesh supporting them. Incidentally CMS continued to resort to baseless tactics and had alleged that their Indira Nagar Branch had “no space” to admit an additional 13 children and that it was not very close to the residence of the children. Valid reasons in their view why these kids should not be admitted to the school.
The court however had taken cognizance of these tactics and had issued an order to the BSA to inspect the school & verify the truth! The truth would help the court rule in the children’s favor. On the appointed day of the case hearing, July 30th, the BSA failed to reach in time. The court room battle that ensued kept everyone on tenterhooks. At the last minute the BSA reached with evidence of distance from the school. The RTE clause mandated that the distance from school to home be measured not “ as the crow flies “ (aerial distance) but “as the dog walks” ( which is the actual walking distance) . The BSA clarified that it was the latter, as per the mandate. The school inspection too did not prove any issue of lack of space.
The court ruled against the school …….. in favor of the children . The DEO’s office issued a notice to CMS to admit the EWS children who had been allotted seats under the RTE process. Despite the notice from the education department the school continued to be obstinate and refused to admit the children. The order was issued on Aug 6th and handed over to the school by District Education Officer — Shri Praveen Mani Tripathi. The school was given a week’s time to complete the admission process.
Totally against the order, CMS was preparing to draw the battle lines further by filing a special appeal. The question lurking in everyone’s mind was, were private schools above the law? CMS management’s obstinacy appeared to be a mockery of the law. They kept refusing to admit the 13 children and now cited their special appeal as yet another impediment to the process. In the meanwhile the children were getting weary, often asking parents when they would attend school? Untiringly the team continued to try admitting the children with no respite.
1st week of September: As the days rolled into months, in September a double bench of the High Court, represented by Justice S.S. Chauhan & Justice Anant Kumar ruled against the special appeal filed by CMS. As expected, challenging the double bench’s directive CMS was reading to file an appeal in Supreme Court. Samina and team searched and finally found their trump card . They decided to file a “Contempt of Court” case against CMS founder Mr. Jagdish Gandhi . The contempt of Court case had a deadline of September 30th. Notwithstanding the timelines meant a sure jail sentence Mr. Gandhi. The countdown to the ultimate test had begun!
September 28th was the date fixed for the hearing by Supreme Court. Pitted against some of the top legal guns of the country Samina & team were represented by Advocate Shamshaad. Finally after seeing and hearing all the evidence the court ruled…..against the school………..in favor of the children!
Samina & team had rightfully won the legal battle in the Supreme Court. Parents, children, public, Samina & her team were ecstatic & their joy knew no bounds.
September 29th : The team ,children & parents reached CMS yet again, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t be turned away. But this time admissions really happened. The ecstatic parents and children saw their dreams coming true. They could now envision a better future, continue to dream & hope that education would change their ordinary lives into an extraordinary journey!
September 30th: 11.30 when the school recess bell sounded its toll, bounding out with joy through the gates of CMS Indira Nagar came ecstatic children. They had a different glow on their faces. 5 year old Pakhi could not contain her joy. Jumping with glee she shouted “Mummy, this is a wonderful school, there are so many swings and I loved my 1st day in school”. Anita, Pakhi’s mother could not contain her tears of happiness. The other parents too were overwhelmed with happiness.
Looking back at what the team went through, it is imperative we admit that it was a risky journey .These challenges only inspired Samina & her team to fight against the system. The RTE journey would have been even more challenging had it not been for the great support they received from many quarters.
The most critical support they received was from the CM, UP office, especially Shri Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma and Shri Amod Kumar. Without the support from the CMO & these 2 senior officers success would have eluded the team. The team was also fortunate to have all the administrative support from then District Magistrate of Lucknow , Shri Raj Shekhar & District Education Officer (DEO) of Lucknow Shri Praveen Mani Tripathi. With their exemplary management of the processes & administrative issues, Lucknow became a precedence for other districts to emulate.
Today the team has managed to build a unique partnership with the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The cumulative number of allotments under RTE today stand at 2, 36,000. These many EWS & disadvantaged children have access to quality education in private schools across the state under the RTE Act.
Unlocking unused government funds for welfare schemes like RTE, has led to the UP government spending over 200 crores on EWS children under RTE. One rupee spent unlocks Rs 100 of public finance which can be spent on welfare schemes. The team now aims to set up a robust institutional capacity for RTE implementation in the state geared to impact 600,000 children in the next five years in UP.
Adds Samina Bano, “We are changing and leveraging the system — and that is what matters. We are idealistic people led by a passion, to change the society, and we remain so . But now we have a strategy, thousands of success stories and awareness of challenging realities that make us strong and hopeful .
Our mission is to create a better narrative for lakhs of children across the nation, bring to light the stories that matter & share our knowledge and resources to empower & impact a wide spread change”!
With Inputs from The Team &
Samina Bano,
IIM Bangalore |Goalkeeper’18,19
