Nagpur: Many schools firm on no RTE admissions

NAGPUR: Even though state government is alloting seats to students under free Right To Education (RTE) Act quota, many schools say they won’t be completing the admission formalities due to pending fee reimbursements.
Under the current system, state government handles the RTE admission lottery draw, which is conducted online. The selected student is allotted a school and the parent/guardian has to physically go there to complete the formalities. While no fees are charged for the RTE seat, the paperwork formalities include submission of documents like birth certificate etc.
Independent English Schools Association (IESA), a pan-Maharashtra group, has decided to completely halt the admission process.
Rajendra Dayma, the association’s president, said, “There is no way we will accept RTE admissions because the government has not held its side of the bargain. For so many years, we have been requesting the government to clear our dues but they have not relented. So we had taken a decision long back that whenever the 2021-22 RTE admission process starts, we won’t be going ahead with the paperwork.”
He added that IESA members across the state have been in touch with their respective district education officers for seeking clearing of financial dues. “If the pending dues were not enough of an issue, the problem has been aggravated further by the state’s decision to slash reimbursements. Now, every school will be paid hardly Rs8,000 per year, per child under RTE. Earlier, we used to get more than double this amount,” said Dayma.
At the same time, there are some schools which will go ahead with RTE admissions, but under protest. Sachin Kalbande, a school trustee and president of RTE Foundation, said, “Within 10 days we will approach the high court against the state education department’s delay in reimbursing RTE fee. In the meantime, we shall process admission paperwork because denying admission will lead to violation of law,” said Kalbande.
Some parents have complained about fees being charged by schools to complete RTE admission formalities.
Shahid Sharif, an RTE activist, said, “I have recieved multiple complaints from parents who say schools express inability to provide free admissions. So deposits are being asked for to complete the admissions.”