SHILLONG: “The apex court had taken a conscious decision by keeping minority institutions out of the purview of the Right to Education (RTE) Act,” Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said on Wednesday, while lauding the order by the Supreme Court on Tuesday wherein it had upheld the validity of the Right to Education Act, 2009, but ruled that the Act was not applicable to the aided or unaided minority schools.
“We would closely examine the order of the apex court before taking any step to comply with the ruling,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the ruling was very much relevant in the context of Meghalaya considering that a large number of schools in the State are being run by institutions belonging to the Church which fell under the minority category. Sangma reminded that the State Government had written to the Centre some time ago seeking clarity on certain aspects pertaining to the RTE Act because “the situation in Meghalaya was not the same as elsewhere in the country”.
“Several managing committees here have given representations to the government offering their views vis-à-vis the RTE Act and accordingly the government has written to the Centre seeking more clarity on the nuances of the Act,” he added.
