Unaided schools plan to approach court over RTE Act GO

Ongole: The managements of various private unaided schools are unhappy over the fixing of per-child expenditure in the GO MS No 24, to implement the Right to Education Act in Andhra Pradesh. They feel that the amount is very much lower than the regular fees being collected from other students, and are said to be planning to go to court to halt the implementation of the order.

As per the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, or simply Right to Education Act, private schools should give admission to at least 25 per cent of seats to eligible children from disadvantaged groups and economically weaker sections. The fees for them will be reimbursed by the state government as part of the public-private partnership plan. However, in many states, the RTE Act is not being implemented in full spirit.

The Andhra Pradesh government issued GO MS No 24 on February 26, providing a platform for the admissions into Class I, and announcing a schedule for allotment of seats in all private unaided schools following the IB, ICSE, CBSE and state syllabus, for the academic year 2023-24.

The notification may be issued on March 4 and admission process is expected to be completed by April 30. For the implementation of the RTE Act, the government fixed the per child expenditure for all classes per annum in all private unaided schools following various syllabi as Rs 8,000 in urban areas, Rs 6,500 in rural areas and Rs 5,100 in tribal and scheduled areas. The managements of private schools are now furious over the fixture of the total expenditure at much lower than the actual fees they are charging and are not ready to accept them for 25 per cent of seats.

A senior member in the management of a corporate school network based in Guntur said that the government is making unnecessarily fuss to divert the attention of the public. He said that the government tried to regulate the fees earlier without considering the actual expenditure of the schools, but it was struck down by the court. He said that this time, the government fixed about half of the amount fixed earlier as the expenditure, knowing that the schools would not accept it and go to court again. He opined that the government wants to show them in poor light before the parents and court, but they have no option left as the expenditure in managing the schools has been increasing multifold every year.

An administrative officer of an unaided private primary school in Ongole said that they are already struggling to meet the budget for the salaries with just about 100 students. He explained that the students being from the poor and middle-class families, take time to pay the fees in instalments. He said that they are troubled even though most of the parents pay the fees as they receive Amma Vodi benefits, and now fixing the expenditure at half of the fees they collect will make their struggle for existence more intense.