Over 3k schools to boycott RTE admissions over unpaid bills

Nagpur: Over 3,000 schools may boycott RTE admissions in the coming academic session citing non-payment of reimbursements for free admissions given under the 25% quota.
The schools under the banner of Independent English Schools Association (IESA) have alleged that the education department has been refusing to clear their bills citing ‘frivolous reasons’.
Rajendra Dayma, president of IESA, said they raised many objections but did not receive any response from authorities. “It is like talking to a wall. They say our bills cannot be processed because the ‘Aadhaar number’ of a student is not mentioned. But it is the education department which gives admission under RTE, not us. If the students’ documents were all in order when s/he was chosen in the RTE lottery by the government, then how come that same student becomes ineligible for fee reimbursement?” said Dayma.
The association has demanded that all such ineligible students must then be recalled by the education department. “So student’s status is legal when the education department sends it to us but illegal when we ask for fee reimbursement,” he added.
IESA claims to have around 3,700 schools under its banner. “Out of these, almost 15% have receive their bills in full. The RTE admission boycott will be in those schools for whom the bills are pending,” said Dayma.
The second issue which IESA is up in arms against concerns the proposed change to intake capacity. Dayma said, “From the next academic session, a change has been proposed to the intake capacity which will adversely affect us. For example, if in 2019 my school’s intake capacity was 100 then as per law 25 seats (25%) would be reserved for RTE quota. This leaves 75 seats for general admissions.”
“But if only 50 of these are filled up, then from next academic session (2020-21) my intake capacity will be reduced to 25-50. All this because the education department says that previous year’s admission intake will be considered for next year’s computation,” he said.
IESA says this will have a negative impact on their growth in the long run. “What if next year I get 75 general admission applicants? Since my general admission strength will be reduced to 50, it is detrimental to my school’s growth,” he added.