The Times of India           28.10.2010

GURGAON: Most of the private schools in the city have been found to be flouting HUDA guidelines which mandate them to reserve 10 per cent of seats for the students from economically weaker section.

This news comes despite the fact that before allotting the subsidised land for schools buildings, HUDA categorically asks the applicants to reserve the seats for the economically weaker section category. According to a report filed by city based NGO Adhikar to the authority, as many as 40 popular schools in the city are constantly denying poor children of their right. The list includes names like the Delhi Public School in sector 45, DAV School in sector 14 and Blue Bells School in sector 4.

We have written to the administration regarding schools which dont fulfill the mandatory conditions that are mentioned in the contracts they signed with HUDA at the time of allotment, said Shadab Raza of Adhikar. He accused that many of these schools were also not implementing Right to Education.

Thats not it. Many of the schools which are implementing the HUDA guidelines have found a new way to segregate the poor children. Mainly, these schools are either not giving admission to the poor students, or are holding separate classes after the normal school hours, said Raza.

Such segregation defeats the whole purpose of reserving seats. We also doubt the quality of education and other facilities in these after-hour classes, he added.

Many schools have found a way around the regulations. We have noticed cases where the schools exempt some students from paying the tuition fee but impose other superfluous expenses like computer education fee, transportation fee etc, said Rakesh Yadav, another representative of the NGO.

When asked, HUDA administrator Nitin Yadav said a probe has been ordered under the authoritys estate officer and a report is expected within a week from now. We pushed for the same issue at the beginning of the admission season and issued notices to schools reminding them of the regulations, he said.

The NGOs findings also raise question on HUDAs sincerity in implementing such guidelines as the authority fails to appoint its representatives in school management committees. According to the guidelines, every schools management committee must have at least one HUDA representative.

Management of schools also pass the blame on HUDA for failing to appoint its representatives on their management committees. Aditi Mishra, principle of the Delhi Public School in sector 45 said that the administration has not yet sent a representative to the school for the purposes of membership on the schools management committee. We will have a HUDA representative as a member of the committee once they send someone over, she said.

Mishra said that her school holds separate classes for poor students separately from 1:30 pm to 5 pm. Representatives of DAV School and Blue Bells School were not available for comment.

The Times of India           26.10.2010

PUNE: The school mental health programme, which helps diagnose psychological problems in children studying in civic schools, has come to an abrupt halt this year due to a funds crunch.

The programme acted as a preventive psychiatric initiative and dealt with students' emotional and behavioural problems before they turn into disorders.

"The programme had to be discontinued due to lack of funds. We want to help all schools. However, there is no budget provision in the government or corporation schools to run it. If the school education board of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) funds us, we will be able to resume the initiative and continue to help students through trained counsellors and doctors," said Alka Pawar, director of Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health (MIMH). The institute had conducted the programme in civic schools for the last two years.

"It is not possible to stretch the existing manpower in the hospital setup to work in the community regularly. The MIMH and Sassoon Hospital's psychiatry department have a large population of out-patient department and in-house patients," she added.

The programme was started in 2008. "We approached the state government to run the mental health programme in civic schools. We received grants through District Planning and Development Committee (DPDC), Pune and appointed qualified people on contract. Families were given information, the teachers were trained to identify and refer cases to us and to enhance their communication skills with children and the parents," she added.

Depression, adjustment problems (disorders) and problems of daily living were discussed. Teachers were helped with communication skills training and information on the subjects to discuss all problems with parents. "Our counsellors facilitated the sessions during PTA meetings, as well as independent sessions with children and families," she added.

The programme was aimed at lowering the number of school dropouts and help curbing anti-social behavioural patterns among them, said Pawar.

"The objective was to identify such children and make special provision to address their scholastic difficulties early. It would have eventually helped in curtailing the percentage of school dropouts in civic schools," said Pawar.

As per our studies, many students who drop out of school take to bad habits like smoking and tobacco chewing and progress to alcohol consumption. The chances of some getting abused at workplaces are equally high. They even start misusing the money they earn and can even turn into antisocial elements, said Pawar.

The programme initially focused on screening standard IV students studying in PMC schools. "Children are usually promoted up to standard IV. But if they fail in standard IV, they normally drop out of school. Hence, we decided to evaluate the mental fitness of students studying in standard IV," said Pawar.

Under the programme, we screened over 3,000 students in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Of them, as many as 183 students had some behavioural and emotional problems. A total 143 of them were treated with home intervention wherein parents were taken into confidence to help correct the problems. While 41 students required hospital intervention wherein the problems were dealt with the help of counsellors and doctors. These students were suffering from conduct disorders, adjustment disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, learning disability, mild mental retardation, alcoholism in parents and single parenting.

"Counselling was separately done at MIMH for marital disharmony, alcoholism, depression or any other psychological problems of parents. With special funding to develop a Child Mental Health (CMH) programme, we would be able to create the infrastructure for a constructive future generation," said Pawar.

Chief of the education board Ramchandra Jadhav said, "The school mental health programme is a unique initiative of MIMH. We will see that the programme continues to help our students. As for funds, we will seek necessary permission from the authorities."