Pune: Activists want better facilities for RTE beneficiaries

PUNE: Activists working with beneficiaries of 25% quota admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act in private schools have submitted a set of demands to the education office in Pune.
These include extension of age covered under the Act, transfer of RTE students to nearby schools in case the original schools shut down, free uniform, stationery and other school essentials to beneficiaries.

The activists met parents of the beneficiary students on September 8 in the city and discussed the problems faced by the students in schools and what their demands were.
The Aam Aadmi Parents’ Union had taken up the initiative for this meeting. Parents from Indiranagar, Kamgar Putala, Dapodi, Undri and other areas had gathered. Mukund Kirdat of Aam Aadmi Party said they will appoint one parent representative in every school to address the issues of RTE beneficiaries.
Kirdat said, “During the meeting, parents said the RTE is applicable up to standard VIII, but students have nowhere to go after this level. The act should be applicable for age group three to standard X, which would be 16 years.”
There have been cases in the city where some schools shut down all of a sudden and students were left rudderless. “We have demanded that in such cases, alternate arrangements to accommodate these RTE students in nearby schools should be made. Our long-pending demand has been to provide free uniform, stationery, textbooks and notebooks, transport to these students. Schools are charging a heavy sum from the students for these items. Our statement says that the schools should be fined in case they make students pay for these items,” Kirdat added.
Parents at the meeting complained that schools made RTE beneficiaries sit separately, conducted classes at different timings, ignored them by not paying enough attention and discriminated against them.