Flout RTE’ for some schools in Odisha!

Bhubaneswar, May 6 (Reporters Today Bureau:): The Parliament on August 4, 2009 enacted the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE).

The Act describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21a of the Indian Constitution.

With this India had become one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the Act came into force on 1 April 2010.  The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools and requires all private schools to reserve 25pc of seats to children (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan) based on economic status or caste based reservations.

But in Odisha, the Act seems to have gone for a toss with children of affluent parents seeking admission under the quota in private schools.

Most of the time it is the desperation of the parents to get their wards admitted to a ‘reputed’ private school. It could fair or foul means.

Many affluent parents choose the shortcut, and often use clout to see their children through in the process.

A glaring example has been noticed in one leading private school in the Odisha Capital Bhubaneswar where the School has been insisted on utilizing the 25 per cent quota to accommodate more children of such parents.

The particular school has been ‘forced’ to admit children of some affluent parents, such as Software Engineer, Businessman, vehicle showroom employee etc.

As the Act lays down these children avail the facilities which could have otherwise gone to more meritorious and deserving parents such as casual laborer’s or motor mechanics who do not possess steady income or for that matter substantial income.

The average monthly expenses parents incur in a good private school ranges between Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 excluding cost of reading materials, uniforms and other costs. This works out to about Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh per annum and Rs 10 lakh for the entire cost of the child’s education up to Class X.

This meant depriving one genuine child from education due to the casual attitude of the authorities who care not to ensure that such students were provided free education and nipping a possible talent in the bud.

While the above mentioned school admitted children of affluent parents under the 25 per cent quota provision, there are other reputed educational institutions who were allowed to admit only 15 per cent of their strength.

The RTE Act requires surveys that will monitor all neighborhoods, identify children requiring education, and set up facilities for providing it.

The RTE Act lays down specific responsibilities for the center, state and local bodies for its implementation.

The development comes as a sorry state of affairs at a time when the states have been clamoring that they lack financial capacity to deliver education of appropriate standard in all the schools needed for universal education.

As per a circular of the School & Mass Education of Government of Odisha dated 20.05.14, private schools are required to notify the number of seat in Class 1 or pre-primary class every year in the public domain (school notice board or Panchayat notice board) and communicate the same to the Block Education Officer.

The private schools are required to notify the fees to be charged from the child for the particular year, admission to be given to children belonging to the disadvantaged and weaker section groups and admission priority to be given to children belonging to the neighborhood.