Violation of RTE Act : Probe ordered against private schools

GAYA: District magistrate Abhishekh Singh has ordered an inquiry against the private schools after receiving complaints that some of them were showing less number of seats in their institutions to deny 25% of the seats in Standard 1 to the economically weaker sections as is required under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. He said stern action would be taken against the schools if the charges were found true. Magistrates would conduct the inquiry, he said.

The government reimburses the tuition fee of these children under a dynamic fee structure and 50% of the reserved seats are earmarked for girls. Gaya is the first district in the state to have introduced online application and seat allotment to make the system transparent. Sources say the government earlier reimbursed fee @ Rs4,350 per child per annum. The fee has now been upwardly revised with about 50% hike.

District programme officer Asghar Khan said altogether 900 private schools applied for recognition under Unified District Information System of Education and 285 of them have been recognized while another 200 applications are being processed. Most of the remaining applications lack supporting documents.

Introduction of online application system has resulted in quantum jump in RTE admissions. As against only 600 such admissions in 2017, 3,686 applications have been received for 2,268 seats this year.

On Saturday, lottery was drawn by the DM for 911 seats in 85 schools. Twenty students from the economically weaker sections were selected for admission in two private schools in Amas block of the district.

Sources say whereas schools run by big corporate houses have complied with the RTE Act, some believed to be owned by ruling alliance politicians continue to violate its provisions.

Courtesy: TNN