While activists claimed that Thursday’s Supreme Court verdict was a setback in implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act as it excluded minority institutions, school managements too opposed it as they need to provide free education to 25 per cent students from poor sections of the society.
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Right to Education Act, 2009, which mandates 25 per cent free seats to the poor in government and private unaided schools, but made it clear that unaided private minority schools were exempted from the provisions of the Act.
Mr P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, Tamil Nadu State Platform for Common School System, said that as the country had more schools run by minority groups, the verdict would be a big setback to stakeholders as they cannot claim the 25 per cent of the seats for under-privileged and oppressed sections of the society.
“With this judgment the very basis of the RTE Act is defeated as no child can go to a private school and claim one of the 25 per cent free seats. We want the Union government to enact an amendment in the Constitution bringing minority schools too under the ambit of the RTE Act,” he said.
Pointing out that the Kothari Commission had recommended a common school system, Babu said that RTE would become a success only when the government implemented the common school system.
The middle-level schools, which are affiliated to CBSE, ICSE and state boards and collect fee ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000, are not in favour of the 25 per cent quota for poor students in all the private unaided schools under the Right to Education Act.
Private schools are apprehensive that they will suffer a loss of revenue (if the government does not pay up) and this will adversely affect the quality of education and infrastructure in schools. Naturally, parents who have paid the full fees themselves will not be pleased with any lowering of standards.
Infrastructure in many schools has improved. School managements say that parents demand things like air-conditioned buses, A/c class rooms, international curriculum, and world-class facilities and are ready to pay for it. Schools, however, cannot provide these facilities if they implement the 25 per cent quota for poorer students unless the government pays the full fee of every such student.
Dr A. Kalanidhi, chairman of the School Management Committee, Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram in Chennai said, “Even though schools welcome the RTE Act we oppose the provision providing free education to 25 per cent of students. Who will pay us for the 25 per cent free education? We want the government to clear the disparities in the system and refund us fees for the 25 per cent students”, he said.
There are also apprehensions that students and parents from under-privileged sections will find it difficult to mingle with students from affluent sections and this may create psychological and related problems for the quota children.
It is doubtful if the quota can be implemented for the forthcoming year. CBSE and ICSE schools in the city have already closed admissions for 2012-13 and have begun orientation classes for the fresh batch from the last week of March, followed by summer vacation from April 25 to June 12.
Despite notifying the RTE rules two years ago, in April 2010, the government itself is unclear about how much it will reimburse to schools for giving quota admissions.
The state government had planned to admit all the poor children in government schools and consider admitting them in private schools only if there is no government school in the area. However, that situation never arose because the state has the highest number of government schools, at nearly 80,000, in every nook and corner of the state.
The state also fears the additional financial burden it will have to shoulder in the form of reimbursement of fees to private schools for quota students. It is already struggling to pay Rs 6,000 crore it needs annually to pay for reimbursement of fees of poor students in higher education courses.
Andhra Pradesh minister for primary education, Dr S. Shailajanath said, “I have asked officials to work out the modalities of implementing the scheme. We will convene a meeting with private school managements within a week and sort out the issues, including fee reimbursement.”