Apart from parents whose income is below Rs 1 lakh, parents who fall under the reserved category but can afford the fees are also applying under the RTE quota, putting low income groups at a disadvantage.
Apart from parents whose income is below Rs 1 lakh, parents who fall under the reserved category but can afford the fees are also applying under the RTE quota, putting low income groups at a disadvantage.
According to a BMC official, the number of reserved category parents applying for admission for their kids under RTE quota is more than the number of applicants from the low income group.
Dinkar Temkar, deputy director, primary education, said, "It is in the Constitution that members of two reserved categories should not be asked to produce income certificates. The rest will have to show. If there is such a facility, even a bureaucrat from reserved category can apply for it."
Initially, parents in the city got attracted to good schools affiliated to ICSE and international boards. However, the fee hikes have forced parents from the reserved category to take advantage of the RTE quota.
A parent from the reserved category said, "I have been paying around Rs 40,000 as annual fees for my child. If there is a scheme for reserved category students from the government, then there is no harm in trying to get admission through that process. I can save the huge fee amount that I have been paying."
Activists however, feel that the lower income group will get affected by this. Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education, said, "If the reserved category group is not asked for income certificates, then even the families who can afford the fees will apply for admission, which may directly affect lower income groups."
Arundhati Chavan, President of United Forum, Parent Teachers Association, said, "If private schools keep increasing the fees, this group will definitely take advantage of the RTE quota admission. And then simultaneously, this number will be more than the lower income."
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