State to go soft on RTE implementation this year
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Officially, the State government is strictly implementing the 25 per cent quota in all private schools in the city as per the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act which enables students from weaker and disadvantaged sections to pursue primary education in elite schools.
But behind the smokescreen, the government has decided not to push the RTE quota strictly, at least this academic year, thanks to the pressure of private schools managements and delayed implementation of the RTE Act in the state.
According to highly placed sources in the education department, the government is unlikely to pressure all private schools to reserve 25 percent of their total intake for admissions under RTE. Instead, the department may even allow the schools to continue with their old admissions.
A senior official in the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) said while issuing the notification, the government was determined to implement 25 per cent of total intake in all private non-aided schools.
“But following the poor demand from the beneficiaries, the State government now has decided to let the private schools off the hook. If any student insists for a particular school only then the department will create quota in the schools. Else, the government will implement the Act in total from next academic year,” he said.
According to senior officials, the problem is most of the elite schools have finished their admission process long back. “As per the Act, we cannot send any admitted student out of the school. At the same time, it is not easy to sanction additional intake in schools as these institutes are following strict student-teacher ratio. So we decided to not to push for strick implementation of the Act right now,” said another officer.
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