Here are some comments on the legal position for home-schooling in India.

Also see the FAQ page

 

As of December 2004, this is our understanding about the legal situation of home educating in India:

There is no legal requirement to send children to school.  On 28th November 2001 the government made education compulsory by passing the 93rd constitution amendment Bill in the parliament, making education a fundamental right, but government still has to frame the laws to implement it. 

In Tamil Nadu state there is a law to punish the parents who are not sending their children to school but this is not implemented at all.

Visit this site to know about the draft education bill

http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementary.asp

(V. Balakrishnan)

 

Hi friends

Regarding the legalization process, in India it does not even seem a necessity as the right to education is not enforced by law. So when you don't send your child to school it is not a punishable offence.

Other factor is the existence of NIOS which is a govt. body in itself is a testimony to the fact that the govt. is aware of this problem in the country. Thus they have provided with an alternative to enter the mainstream at a later stage, in case for some reason (and the reasons are many) the child is unable to attend the school in initial years.

These legalities become a necessity when there is a possibility of enforced interference from the authorities.

Here a question arises, what if one fine day our Govt. wakes up to the fact of homeschooling and decides to intervene. I believe that before doing so the govt will really have to pull its own act together and enforce compulsory education to the sector which essentially constitutes its vote bank.

I feel it is wise to wait till such a move is made by the govt. By the time the govt wakes up to this problem, which I am sure will be quite a few years from now, homeschoolers will have results of their efforts to support their case that will help them ensure legal help and getting a law passed in their favour.

This is just my opinion.

Regards
Vineeta.   March 06

to add on to this... (a case i am aware of) Primary education is compulsory by law in some states. One such state is
Karnataka.

 Shashi Kumar

 

Dear,
In India , there is no law requiring any registration or recognition from any agency(Govt or other) for home schooling. A child that has never attended any school can be admitted directly to the V111 th standard , on being certified by any qualified teacher that the child has been taught by her / him and has attained a level suitable for admission to the V111 th standard. Amma has given admission to a number of students like that in her school.
Besides , children who have never been to any school for any reason and have completed 15 years (18 years in some states) can directly sit for the 12Th Standard Public Examination. This is in force in Tamil Nadu for a long time and as Superintendent of the Secondary Education Section of the Secretariat (Education Dept), I was instrumental to bring it into force much against the opposition of the then Director of Public Instruction ( N.D.Sundara Vadivelu). This I did on the request of Mrs. Manda krishnamurthy , a very popular lady in Social Service. The idea behind the scheme was that the life of women widows , deserted woman , orphaned women, without education and any source of income was miserable and that they should be enabled to qualify themselves to make a decent living for themselves. The scheme include all people who had no opportunity to attend any school for any reason , to take to the examination. People who pass the exams are eligible for admission to higher courses of education in any college or university, just like any other students. The scheme of admitting unschooled people to the Public Examination is in force in almost all the States with different criteria relating to Age alone.
Home schooling does not require any registration , recognition or regulation by any agency or authority. No one can claim any right to have have any control or regulation over any Home school.
In fact the Compulsory Education Act was in the statute Book of the country right from the days of the British and it was never enforce. the Act required every parent person/guardian charge of a child to enroll and send a child to some school compulsorily . Failure to do so involved prosecu tion and punishment. It was never enforced. Even recently certain Governments enacted such an Act. But the Act is not being enforced in any state. On the contrary , the Governments have chosen to offer inducements , such as provision of mid day meals , free education up to 12 Th Standard , free books, note books etc.

So there is ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM to home schooling children in India and getting them admitted to the regular colleges later after they take the Public Examination.
I think that you might remember the case of a 13 year old girl passing the 10th standard public Examination directly in UP and long time back I have sent a copy of the newspaper report to you also. The speciality in that case was that the girl never attended any formal school and that she passed the 10th standard Examination by preparing for it in a few years and she was the youngest to take the Examination directly.
So what you have to know is that
1. no law or regulation requiring registration of home schooling
2. no one (Govt or any other agency) has any control or right over the way one wants to educate his/ her children.-you have real and absolute freedom on the way you want to develop your child
3. Children who have never attended school , but have been taught at home by some body, can be admitted directly to the high school standards up to the 8Th , on being tested and certified by a qualified teacher to have been found fit for admission to certain standard.
4.Children who have never attended any school , but have attained certain age can directly take to the Public Examinations (10Th and 12Th). They are known as private students.
5. Students who have directly taken the Public Examination of the 12 Th Standard are eligible for admission to the regular Courses in Colleges.
6.There provision for a person who has passed the 8 Th standard and has attained certain age , can directly write the M.A degree Examination under the open University scheme. Degrees in different disciplines are open for such students .
7.When we refused admission to the Law college to a person on the ground that the degree obtained by him was under the open university scheme ( we discounted it against the degree obtained through formal education in the colleges, the Madras High Court ordered that it was discriminatory and that the student should be admitted o the course and we did it) .
8.So there is no problem for home Schooling there in India.
9. Only thing is that in India there was no such concept as home schooling as it prevails here in the US. ( so far as I know)
10. But people are learning at home and getting admitted upto the 8 th standard in regular schools and into colleges after taking the public Examination as private students.

But remember, that admission to Institutions fo Higher Education, (Colleges and universities ) are also on the basis of Castes and not really on merits in India. So also appointmments in government service is also based on castes. Now the politicians are very keen on enforcing the policy of appointment on the basis of castes even in private organizations, though it does not make sense or legally possible to compel private establishments to do so. The indian politicians are keen on making money and attraining power through politics on the basis of castes and communities , because that is the only qualification they have and that is the only one that cannot be contested on merits.
A candidate belonging to a caste that is not scheduled or backward or most backward according to the rules of the government might find it very hard to get admission or appointment , however intelligent or superior he / she might be in attaintments. Even Einstein might not find it easy to secure admission to a B.Sc maths degree course , under the present conditions.That is the real dark side of India.
More after hearing from you.

Hope this is helpful,
Regards,
Raghavan   April 06

 

More from Mr. Raghavan.

You must know that Elementary and Secondary Education are EXCLUSIVELY State Subjects in the Constitution of India and the Central Government can not compel the State Governments to follow any specific rules or pattern in them. They of course make some advisory moves ansd provide grants and subsidies to implement some suggestions if the state Goverments and their undertakings would accept them. The rules relating to the the pattern /scheme and syllabi , of the CBSC(Central board of Secondary Education) differ from those of the State governments. The Central Board of Secondary Education was created to provide a uniform standard of Education for the employees of the Central Govenment Departments who are liable to be posted and transferred all over the country to different states .They had to be admitted to the Schools run by different State Schools with different patterns. Further , the language problem (particularly Hindi and Sanskrit&bsp;) was a severe restricting aspect for the Children of the Central Governent Employees when they got transferred to the Southern States. Their children had to be admitted to the Schools run by the State Governments or the private Schools approved by the State governments .So the children of the Central Govrnment Employees were facing hardship when the employees were being transferred to different states in the middle of the Academic years. So also there are Matriculation Schools with English medium run the state Governments according to the syllabi framed by the Universities in the various states (universities created by the laws of the State Governments- NOT THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT) . There are Anglo-Indian Schools with English Medium created by the State Governements for the children of Anglo-Indians and a few Oriental language Schools teaching Sanskrit as a language besides followint the syllabi on the othere subjects according to the state syllabi. ( O.S.LC.-oriental School leaving Certificate just like the (S.S.L.C)- Secondary School leaving Certificate.Matriculation Schools run by the States according to the Syllabi of the universities They also differ from State to State. There is no need for one to resort to any sort of reservation or registration for appearing as a private candidate at the S>S>L>C Examination and higher Secondary Examination of the Government of Tamil nadu. may be the CBSC has some such provisionas the writer of the mail has indicated,. is not aware of the specific requirements of the CBSC prior admission of any student as a private student for its examinations. it might be having some such restrictions as its potential in providing fior the examination of candiates throughout the country is severley resticted. it has got to secure examination Centers in institutions run by the state governments and secure the services of the supervisors for the examinations. Besides there are railway Schools also in all the Sttes run by the Railways where the State Syllabi and the Matriculation School syllabi are followed.
It is because of the different patterns and different syllabi followed by these Central SChools and and the State Schools we have different types of Examinations for admission to the professional courses of Education in different States besides a Common admission test conducted by the Central Board of Medical
Education for admission to certain 20 percent of seats reserved for candidatestaking to the such examination. For Engineering courses , there is noi such common admission test conducted by the All India Board of Technical Education.
 

So you must understand that the rules relating to Elementary , Secondary and Higher Secondary Courses DIFFER FROM STATE TO STATE IN INDIA and there is no common rule- universal rule applicable to the whole of india . They differ from University to university also when it comes to Admission to Higher /Collegiate Education.
What I have written earlier TOTALLY AND FULLY RELATES TO TAMIL NADU.
In so far as other States are concerned people might approach the Education Department of the States Concerned (Do not approach the Central Governent for these matters in so far as admission to the institutions under the state Government is concerned). Contact the Central Board of Secondary Education in so far as the Schools run under its control. Lot of restrictions might be there as there are very few schools in the states. For puroses of admission to schools run by the Defence Department _Kendriya Vidyalaya .Consult the governent of India defence Department .
I think that nothing more is needed for the present . I shall get more relevant information with authentic copies of rules and regulations on the matter -including the central schools and the schools of other states too after I return.

The rules relating to central schools under Central Board of secondary education are uniformly the same throughout the country. But the rules relating to admission to schools run by the State
Boards differ from state to sate. In tamil nadu , previously , it was Madras Educational Rules and now the Tamilnadu Educational Rules. You can have copies of the Rules from the Government Press Sales Depot in mount Road -Anna salai near the Government handicafts Sales Emporium. They may not even be up to date . That is another story. So we must get information on specific aspect from the section dealing with the subject in the Directorate of School Education and the Directorate of higher secondary Education and the Director of Government Education. Previously it was all combined under one authority. The director of Public Instruction. The complex in which the offices of the various Education Directorates are located at present is still known as the DPI Office compound only , opposite the Sankara Netralaya and next to the Women's Christian College in the College Road, Nungambakkam Chennai -600006.

With kind regards
k.Raghavan

 

PS (June 2007)  Please see the report in the hindu dated the 6Th of June 2007. In the UP ( Uttar Predesh ) state, gifted children and home Schoolers can be happy. They allow a homeschooler to join regular schools and take the marticulation Examination (may be also be Higher Secondary Examination also ). The girl in the report was home- schooled and she was allowed to join the 1X Th standard directly , though she was only seven yeas of age. She has passed the matriculation ( XTh Std ) Examination recently at the age 7. So it seems that the home -Schoolers can join the mainstream schools irrespective of their ages. In Tamil Nadu the age factor is insisted. So UP is better than Tamil Nadu in this respect .
 

 

Hi Friends

Regarding appearing for a Xth grade examination through NIOS, all you need to do is get registered with NIOS a year before the child is expected to write his exams. For example if the child is expected to write the exams in April 2008, officially you need to get registered in August 2007. However, my experience tells, it helps to get registered two years in advance, like in August 2006. (my son is appearing for his tenth grade exams through NIOS these days). This is because once you get registered, it takes time for the books to arrive and the child is left with very little time to go through the text books. The child must have probably done the things in much greater depth while homeschooling, still it helps to go through the text at least once at a comfortable pace. This registration is valid for five years. That means, the child can clear the exams within five years of registration. There is also an option of breaking up your exams. This means the child can take two exams in one sitting and three in another or in any other suitable combinations. The exams are held twice a year, in sept/oct and in April/May.

However if your child is planning to join any School/College that follws ISC board for class XII, then, the ISC baord requirement is that the child must have cleared all the exams in one sitting. Means splitting the exams in different sittings can be a disadvantage here. Also, there is a requirement of having done any one Indian language apart from English. ( I am not aware of any rules for CBSE). I also feel, it might be a good idea to explore the possibility of appearing as a private candidate for class X exam with CBSE and ICSE baords. Another option is IGCSE from British council. You can type  IGCSE  on google search and then explore  CIE there. You will get information about this international board. For this board, you can appear for your exams through British council or if your city has some schools that are centers for IGCSE like in Bangalore, there are two such schools: Aditi Malaya and Bangalore internaitonal school.

There is no requirement of showing any work the child has done till that time or any other papers other than the birth certificate. Sometimes, the NIOS coordinator at their registration center might insist for some kind of written document from any place (as it happened in the case of my son). I don't know why he insisted. I think he was uncomfortable with the idea that this child has never gone to a registered school. When I asked him, he said, it is not essential, but it would help if you give some document by some one. I felt he needed to see someone other than the parent supporting the child. However, this can be prepared by anybody who has been working with the child and this is not mandatory. I also know others who got registered without a document but they have been a part of some organization at one point of time or another.

So far as admission in other schools is concerned, we found that it is very institution specific. When you tell them you have been homeschooling till now, some of the institutions look at you as if they don't understand what are you saying/doing? Some institutions are very curious, but no interest beyond that. Some institutions are impressed just by talking to your child and looking at their work . Some see the strength the child possesses  and don't even want to look at the work.  At one place, once the principal looked at the work of my children and spoke to the children and us, he didn't feel the need to take the written exam that they had gone to write. At another place, after talking to us and the childrren, the principal felt that there is no need to look at the work also. And at both the places, they got admission. (They were  eleven and seven then). However, one thing we realized during this process was that getting admission upto class VI is quite comfortable. Beyond that it can become increasingly difficult in case one is looking to join a school after homeschooling for some years. This again depends upon the institution head.

In the mail from Mr. Raghvan, he has written, that if the child is 18, the child can directly appear for class XIIth exams. I am not aware of such a provision. According to my understanding, having cleared class Xth exam is a must to appear in class XII exam. In this case I think it is omportant to know whether the law permits to sit directly for XII class exams or is it solely dependent on the discretionary powers of the official concerned.

I hope this helps.

Regards
Vineeta. April 06