Reservation at school level creates inclusive society: BITS Pilani engineer

'Parents can educate their children for free in government schools'

Anjuli Bhargava
Last Updated at July 30, 2017 02:21 IST

Tarun Cherukuri

Can the reservation of seats for economically weaker sections (EWS) in private unaided schools bridge the gaps we see in our society? Can it make it more inclusive? Is there a psychological cost that children from EWS pay to study at the private options? Why don’t schools manage to fill the reserved seats? Adopted in 2012, The Right to Education (Section 12 (1)C) requires private unaided schools to reserve 25 per cent of their seats in an entering class. At a national level, there are around 2.2 million seats available on a yearly basis, of which 15% seats have so far been filled up. 11 states are implementing it at different levels so far. 18 states are still in violation of the Supreme court. Tarun Cherukuri, a chemical engineer from BITS Pilani and a Fulbright scholar, started Indus Action after he was back from studying at the Kennedy School of government in Cambridge. Indus Action helps in getting the information across to families, helps them navigate the state bureaucracy to get the requisite certificates and complete the application process. Cherukuri spoke to Anjuli Bhargava on the merits of the policy and where it’s reached so far. Excerpts from a chat:

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