RTE: Schools want government bailout

NEW DELHI: All private schools in the capital have been reserving 25% seats for poor children under Right to Education. The Supreme Court on Thursday made it clear there was no going back on this. Schools say they are all for creating equal opportunities for children of different economic strata but it's high time the state government pitched in with funds. Private schools insist that educating a quarter of a class for free has left them with a huge financial burden. If the government doesn't reimburse them adequately and soon, they may have to foot the bill by hiking the fee for general students. RTE was enforced on April 1, 2010, but schools started reserving 25% seats for poor children only from the 2011-12 academic session, that is, last year. But the directorate of education declared only last month that it would pay up to Rs 1,190 per month to every private recognized school as reimbursement for teaching them free. "We have never objected to providing free education to those who cannot afford it. But we have an issue with the reimbursement amount, which is not adequate. They have fixed an amount which they would spend on each child in a government school. But when they hire more teachers and set up new buildings under RTE, their per-child cost will increase. So, their calculation which got them the figure of Rs 1,190 is wrong," said L V Sehgal, principal of Bal Bharati School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg. Private schools spend around Rs 1,200 to Rs 3,000 on each child per month. Though Sehgal did not agree that the recent fee hike of 10% to 40% in some private schools was entirely because of RTE, he said schools will have to prepare themselves to deal with the financial burden in some way. "A new session has started but the government hasn't paid us a paisa till now. It becomes difficult for us to bear the cost and this indirectly shifts the burden on to the rest 75% of the students," said Sehgal, who is also chairperson of National Progressive Schools' Conference (NPSC). He said NPSC will write to the government after a meeting on April 25. Schools stress that tuition fee is only one part of the expenses a parent is charged for. There is other expenditure too like books, uniform, field trips, activity material, examination fee and other annual charges besides other things. "We also pay for the books, bags, summer and winter uniforms and trips for the EWS students. Some children also use the bus service. Where do we get that money from? The Sixth Pay Commission has already led to an increase in school budget. Then RTE came. We have put our upgrade plans on hold," said Manju Bharat Ram, chairperson, Shri Ram Schools. "The government is not even reimbursing the fee for all 25% students if a school got the land from DDA at a concession. We will get reimbursed for only 10% students." A senior DoE official said reimbursement amount has already been issued. Only those schools have not received it which did not submit an affidavit declaring their per-child expenditure or their deal with DDA was not verified. "Many schools have already been reimbursed the fee for EWS students. But the schools were originally reserving 10% or 15% seats for the EWS anyway as DDA had given them land at a concessional rate. We have to clarify with DDA about every such school," said the official. Schools are not even clear about what happens if a child ceases to be economically weak. As a practice, once admitted, EWS students avail the freeship throughout the school years. DoE officials also admit that this is a grey area.