Almost 600 recommendation letters for school admission in Mumbai since 2011
4 Sep, 2013
An application was filed with the Education Department of Maharashtra under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the information regarding the letters of recommendation for admission in the Mumbai schools.
The reply to the application reveals that since 2011, the schools in Mumbai have received 591 recommendation letters from the VIPs. The reply shows that the letters are either sent directed to the schools or are routed through the deputy director of school education. The data provided in the reply also showed that majority of the recommendation letters i.e. 337 in number are directed towards convent schools.
In fact, a delegation from the Archdiocesan Board of Education (ABE), which runs 150 convent schools in Mumbai, has complained to the state minorities' commission regarding the pressure, they have to handle during admission season due to recommendations sent by the political groups. However, politicians refuse to accept that they pressurize the schools. Their claim is that they send recommendation letters only to help the needy. They contend that the schools have management quota under which they can accommodate the recommended students but if the school can't manage, they don't pressurize them.