Andhra govt’s 25% RTE quota plan hits roadblock as unhappy pvt schools move court

A recent order issued by the government of Andhra Pradesh, directing private unaided schools to reserve 25% of seats in Class 1 for children from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, has not sat well with the state’s private school managements. The schools are especially unhappy with the expenditure plan mapped out in the government order (GO), which they allege has been unilaterally decided on without consulting them or other stakeholders. The discontent has now reached the High Court, with the Independent Schools Management Association (ISMA) and the United Private Educational Institutions Federation (UPEIF) filing a petition challenging the GO, and the court in turn directing the government to file a response and posting the next hearing to March 15.

The GO, dated February 26, invokes Section 12(1)(C) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, to direct all private unaided schools following IB, ICSE, CBSE, or state syllabus to compulsorily reserve 25% of seats in Class 1 to eligible children. Of this, 5% of the seats are to be reserved for children from disadvantaged groups (orphans, HIV-affected children, and children with disabilities), 10% and 4% for those from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) respectively, and the remaining 6% for those from Other Backward Classes (BC) and minority groups. 

However, Mathukumalli Sri Vijay, counsel for the private school management associations, argues that the GO only addresses Section 12(1)(C) of the RTE Act and has mostly overlooked 12(2), which talks about the reimbursement that is due to the school. 

As of now, the government has set the annual per-child expenditure limit at Rs 8,050 in urban areas, Rs 6,500 in rural areas, and Rs 5,100 in tribal or scheduled areas — in line with the annual school fee cap established by the state government earlier this year. As the eligible students’ parents are expected to be beneficiaries of the Jagananna Amma Vodi scheme, which provides mothers of school-going children with an annual financial assistance of Rs 15,000, the amount will have to be paid from this allowance. If the parents do not pay the amount within 60 days of receiving the allowance, the government will pay the school and deduct the amount from their Amma Vodi allowance next year. 

Sri Vijay, however, questions the rationale behind an expenditure scale based on location. He also alleges that the government, with its new order, is violating the guidelines laid down by the Act in terms of the mode of fee reimbursement. “Ideally, the state government should directly reimburse the school, which will maintain a special account for reserved seats. But as per the GO, the fee is supposed to be paid by the family via the Amma Vodi scheme. A purely state-based welfare scheme has been clubbed with a constitutional Act,” the lawyer says, further asking why the school has to wait for 60 days to receive a reimbursement if the parents fail to pay up.

“There have been several such lapses on the part of the government. Before issuing such an order, the government should have at least consulted with stakeholders to decide on the expenditure,” Sri Vijay adds.

Prasanna Kumar, Director for Public Libraries and official concerned with the implementation of RTE Act in the state, tells TNM that the government had indeed set up a committee with two private school management representatives to discuss the matter. The committee met twice in September last year, he says.

A plan on war footing

The Andhra government’s hurry to execute the 25% reservation on war footing follows a High Court order in September last year, expressing its displeasure with the government over the delay in the implementation of the Act despite its orders. The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by advocate Tandava Yogesh, who had alleged that its orders with regard to the RTE Act were yet to be implemented in the state. The bench reportedly issued the state an ultimatum, stating, “Will you ensure poor children get seats in private schools or shall we allot seats to you (officials) in prison?”

This resulted in a GO being issued by the end of February, directing private unaided schools to register in the portal — http://cse.ap.gov.in — from March 6 to 16. Many schools have since alleged that the hurry did not give them time to voice their complaints or seek clarifications, which led to the associations submitting a High Court petition.

The petition, however, won’t affect the registration process, Prasanna Kumar tells TNM. “The petitioner raised objections to the process of implementation, and not the Act itself. The registrations will go on as per schedule,” he says.

Bahujana Rachayitala Vedika’s Ravi Kumar says that the government now must at least make sure that there is a proper system in place for the implementation of the Act. “Without it, the order is just a farce,” he says. 

Child rights activist Narava Prakash Rao agrees. “The national and state commissions for the protection of child rights have been allotted the responsibility to examine and review the implementation. But these commissions are heavily understaffed. Measures must be taken to address this,” he says. Besides, the commission has predominantly been visiting and overseeing only government schools rather than private schools, where privacy is maintained with several gates and multiple security guards, he adds.

Meanwhile, there are also allegations that the new order will dilute the Amma Vodi programme, as the beneficiaries will now lose half of the financial aid they receive from the government if they get their children admitted to private unaided schools. “The government will now claim credit for both Amma Vodi and implementation of the RTE Act, while remaining silent on the former’s dilution,” a leader of the Andhra Pradesh Teachers’ Federation tells The Hindu.

A dent for private schools?

According to Noor Mohammad, state coordinator of the Private Teachers' Association, the ratio of private schools to government schools in Andhra Pradesh is nearly 50:50. “We tend to immediately relate government schools to children belonging to poor families. But when it comes to private schools, there are variations,” he says. 

Noor explains that there are mainly four types of private schools — top international schools run by conglomerates, corporate schools run by politicians, schools run by societies, and lastly smaller schools with just one or two branches. “Maybe the fourth category here, the small schools, may get affected due to the implementation of the RTE Act. But how are politicians, who run schools at exorbitant fees and spend crores of money on election campaigns, claiming they will face losses?” he asks.

Noor, however, is critical of the reimbursement model proposed by the state government. “Our governments must strive to establish a more democratic Common School System (CSS). We frequently boast of our status as the world’s largest democracy, but our school system is flawed. Our private schools must ideally consider it their responsibility to offer such a quota, which is not the case right now,” he says.

Prakash Rao says it is encouraging that the Andhra government is working to gradually bring primary education under its control. “Andhra spends a significant amount of money on education. A society will always benefit if its health and education sectors are managed by the government,” he says. He adds that the school management and teachers associations, who are mostly associated with certain political parties, should give up trying to file petitions for every grievance given the protracted legal process. “More importantly, it should be kept in mind that the measure is meant for the welfare of the underprivileged population.”