Three-and-a-half-year-old Anshu will be going to a public school from tomorrow. The passage has not been easy and doors were slammed on her but her father, social worker Rajiv Kumar Sharma, did something that shows the way to other parents. With Delhi government dragging its feet on implementing the quota for the poor, Sharma used the Right to Information Act.

A resident of East Delhi, Sharma had read about the high court order (regarding schools on DDA land) and the Education Department directive of 25 pc and 20 pc reservation, respectively, for students from lower-income households in public schools. ‘‘I prepared all my papers which showed that I earned less than the amount stated by the government to qualify for this scheme and went to Greenfields Public School (pre-nursery) in Dilshad Garden on June 3,’’ he recalled.

‘‘They refused to even hear me out and told me they had never heard of this order and they were not implementing it,’’ says Sharma.

After a week he went to the education department to register his complaint. He waited for a month but nothing moved. So, he filed an application under RTI on July 12.

In his application, he asked for (1) daily report on the movement of his complaint; (2) name of the official who had been appointed to look into his complaint; (3) his findings; (4) what action had been taken, and if no action had been ordered, when it would be done; (5) if the DDA had been informed by the department about this school flouting the order so that action could be taken by them; and (6) the steps the department was taking to ensure the order was strictly implemented.

In effect, the Education Department was being called to account. ‘‘They replied with all the answers but said I hadn’t mentioned my daughter’s age and what class she wanted admission into. When the school was not even prepared to receive my applicaiton, how could I give them all these details,’’ says Sharma.

However, last week he was asked by the department to approach the school and get his daughter admitted. Yesterday, Anshu was given admission. ‘‘The school principal met me finally and asked me to withdraw my complaint and my daughter was given admission to nursery,’’ says a relieved Sharma.

This story was published by Indian Express, Delhi in August 2004