RTE students to lose academic year as state & schools continue to fight

It's all about the Money! In a never ending tussle between schools and the government, students and parents are the ones who are suffering as they are being deprived of their right to free education. 'No paisa' this claim has adversely affected ongoing admissions of marginalised students to private unaided schools under the Right to Education (RTE), Act, 2009.

Under the RTE Act, students of economically weak backgrounds can secure admissions in private unaided schools and gain benefit of free education till Class 8. The entire education from Class 1 to 8 of students is funded by the state government as per RTE norms. Currently, students and parents have applied online for RTE admissions for academic year 2018 but some of them have been denied admission by various schools.

Parents claim schools denied admission saying they do not have sufficient funds to sustain education of students. Preeti Kadwadkar, a parent said, "We were allotted admission in a particular school through the online RTE admission process. But when we approached the school to submit documents they denied us admission stating they do not have funds. The schools mentioned the state government has not given them funds to manage education of students under RTE. We do not know who to approach as we do not have the money to admit our child in any other school. My child will lose an academic year if this continues."

While, the schools claimed the state and central government have not provided funds for RTE admissions since 2012. SC Kedia, a senior member of private schools said, "The state has not given funds since last five years though as per RTE, the state is responsible for providing free education to students. We have been managing the education of students since 2012 on our own by using the funds of schools but now we are exhausted and we do not have funds. Secondly, RTE is the fundamental right of every child and no child should be deprived of it. We want to ask the government- Where is the money?"

On the other hand, the state government revealed they are disbursing funds gradually and asked schools to cooperate. But the state also warned schools that strict legal action would be taken against those schools who deny admissions to students. A member of private schools said, "On one hand the state asks us to cooperate and bear with them. And on the other, the state warns us that legal action will be taken and sent us derecognition notices thus threatening to declare our schools as unauthorised."

Schools claimed the pending reimbursement amount to be paid by the state government is around Rs 1,200 crores. While the state education ministry claimed they have disbursed amount of Rs 302.48 crore. A senior state education officer managing RTE admissions told The Free Press Journal, "We cleared Rs 70 crore on January 15, Rs 10 crore on March 1 and Rs 138.28 on March 27, 2018. We will clear the pending amount soon and schools should not deny admissions to any student."

If this amount is being disbursed by the state then why are schools denying admissions to students? Has this amount reached schools or is it still stuck between government clearing procedures? Whatever is the status of the funds, children are facing a tough time as they are not being admitted to schools while their fellow friends are securing admissions in high-end schools. The state and schools can continue to fight while students may lose an academic year due to "No Paisa."