The state government is likely to issue an order including even minority schools under the Right To Education rule. With this, the schools set up for particular communities will have to surrender 25% of seats for students from the underprivileged and economically weaker sections. After releasing first Pre-University textbooks, Education Minister Visveswaraya Hegde Kageri admitted that there is confusion over the status of minority institutions. While there were initial efforts to leave out these schools, the government will now bring all schools irrespective of their status under the RTE ambit. “We have sought the law department’s opinion. Once through, we will issue a government order mandating even minority schools to surrender 25% of their seats to the RTE.”
Most of the private, aided and unaided schools banded under different organisations, have objected to the RTE coming into force from this year as there is little time for admission of these students before the schools reopen in June. But Mr Kageri said that his department is not going back and will implement the rule from this academic year. Members of the Karnataka Unaided Schools Minority Association on Monday protested at the office of association president G.S. Sharma, demanding that the RTE should be abolished completely. “We are not going to implement the RTE,” said Mr Sharma. “The members are not interested and it is such a bad system the government has devised.”