
The child’s mother, 30-year-old Rita Kanojia, had petitioned the court seeking help for her son Kartik’s admission to Junior Kindergarten
Justice Vidyasagar Kanade, a Bombay High Court judge, offered to pay Rs. 10,500 for the admission of a four-year-old boy in a school. The child’s mother, 30-year-old Rita Kanojia, had petitioned the court seeking help for her son Kartik’s admission to Junior Kindergarten in Lokmanya Tilak High School located in Tilak Nagar.
Kanojia, who lost her husband to cancer in July 2014, works as a domestic help to support her three children. Her husband used to press clothes and was the only earning member in the family. He was survived by his wife and four children but Kanojia was unable to take care of her newborn child properly because of their poverty and he succumbed to an ailment.
Her daughters study in Class 3 and 5 in Lokmanya Tilak High School, but when she applied for the admission of Kartik, the school asked her to pay Rs. 30,000.
Picture for representation only. Source: Flickr
In the previous hearing, the court had directed the school to process the application for Kartik without counting the building development fund of Rs. 19,500. But now, the school is not allowing her to pay the remaining Rs. 10,500 in instalments. “The watchman is directed not to allow her inside,” said her advocate, Prakash Wagh.
Justice Kanade said that the school must take this decision in a sympathetic manner and not turn it into a prestige issue. “Or I will pay. Let the child not be deprived of education,” Justice Kanade said, asking the school to convey the court’s direction to the principal.