Parents protest against shrunk Right to Education quota

MYSURU: Hundreds of parents and children held a protest in front of the Block Education Office (BEO) on Thursday against the non-availability of free seats in private unaided schools in ward numbers 56, 58, 62, 63 and surrounding areas under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
They alleged that the education department brought amendments to the RTE Act by sacrificing the interests of the poor children.

According to agitators, under the BEO South just 184 LKG/ Class I seats were available under RTE free quota, which was above 1,000 seats last year.

It all started with BEO South authorities publishing the number of seats available in each private school of the block under the RTE quota. As per the list, most of the schools have been kept out of the quota list stating that a government or government-aided school was in the vicinity.

But agitators alleged that these government schools are in no way at par with the private schools. “In our ward, private schools offer good education while the government schools have no facilities. A class V student of a private school can talk like a professor, while an SSLC student from a government school of our area can’t write a correct sentence. In such a scenario, how can the government remove the RTE quota from private schools,” alleged Nageshwari, a mother of a 4-year-old. “Why should I send my kid to a government school as RTE quota is my right,” she said.

Later, the agitators met the department of public instruction authorities and submitted a memorandum in this regard.