Right to education seat in private schools only if no government schools within one km radius

The Right to Education (RTE) Act has been amended by the school education department of the state and a gazette has been published in this regard. According to the gazette issued, if there is a government or subsidized school within one kilometre area, admission will not be given under RTE to an unsubsidized school in the respective area. As a result, the RTE admission seats will decrease. And parents will now have to enrol their children to government schools instead of going for private schools.

The state government says it is reimbursing to private unaided schools, under the Right to Education Act, 25% reserved seats were given to students from economically and socially backward classes in private schools. Students were taking admission online under RTE securing more than one lakh seats in the state. The fee reimbursement amount of these students was given to the respective schools by the government. But the government was not paying the full amount to the schools.

The gazette published by the state government on February 9, has amended Rule 4 of the RTE Act, saying, “no unaided schools shall be identified for the purpose of admission of children from disadvantaged groups or weaker sections, where there are government schools and unaided schools within the one km of the radius.” The act defines neighbourhood as area within 1km for children seeking admission. The 25% admission from deprived and weak sections, of a school which has a government school and an aided school within one kilometre radius of a private unaided school will not be selected by the local authority.

 According to the selected under sub-rule five of rule four of the RTE Act shall not be eligible for reimbursement under sub-section two of section twelve. Therefore, the government has announced a clear stand regarding the duty replication. These sub-clauses are being interpreted by the Education Department officials to mean that the fee replica of students admitted to unaided schools within one kilometre radius of government and aided schools will not be paid to the respective schools.

 According to the gazette published by the state government, RTE admission process should be started for the academic year 2024-25, Deputy Secretary of the state Tushar Mahajan has given instructions to the office of Education Commissioner and Director of Primary Education.