Students, parents protest against GR in St Joseph school

Mumbai, Jul 15 (UNI) Scores of school children and their parents, supported by the All India Minorities Seva (AIMS), today protested the implementation of a government regulation (GR), issued by the Maharashtra State Council Educational Research and Training (MSCERT), that required students to secure at least 35 percent to pass, by St Joseph school in central Mumbai.

Following implementation of the regulation, 177 students had failed in their exams. According to the protesters, the school has also refused to re-admit the students.

According to them, the regulation dated August 30, 2004, was being implemented by the school since 2005-2006, without intimating either the parents or students.

The school only announced that it is implementing the rule at the end of academic year 2007-2008, at the time of declaring the results, which left 177 students from class five, six, seven and eight failing their examinations, they said.

''Contents of the regulation were not printed in the school handbook, so there was no way that the parents or children would be aware about changes in the rule,'' AIMS President Abdul Malik said.

A Legal notice has been sent to the school and education authorities regarding the matter, Mr Malik said.

UNI ZC SR AG2000