Children who belong to the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribe, or the…

Concept: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 sets out two separately-defined categories of children entitled to the 25% reservation under Section 12(1)(c) — a "child belonging to disadvantaged group" (Section 2(d)), which directly names the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribe, and the socially and educationally backward class (plus any further group the appropriate Government notifies as disadvantaged on other grounds), and a "child belonging to weaker section" (Section 2(e)), defined purely by the parent's or guardian's annual income falling below a government-notified limit.

Application: The stem lists Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Socially and Educationally Backward Class — all community/social-identity categories, not an income criterion. This matches exactly the Section 2(d) definition, so children belonging to these categories are defined as belonging to the Disadvantaged Group.

Cross-check — the other options against the Act's actual defined terms:

• Weaker Section (Section 2(e)) is an income-based category, not a community-identity category, so it does not fit the caste/tribe/backward-class list in the stem.

• Special Backward Class is not a term defined anywhere in the RTE Act, 2009.

• Below Poverty Line Group is an economic/welfare classification used in other government schemes, not a term defined in the RTE Act, 2009.