Mumbai school's complaint about funds for quota students in pre-primary

With school admissions for RTE seats set to begin in the next fortnight, the institutions are concerned about the funds necessary to meet the costs for this segment of children.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, requires all private schools to set aside 25 per cent of seats for kids of backward classes between the age of six and 14, beginning at the entry level.

The concern is that the entry level at many private schools is Junior KG, but the government does not reimburse the cost for these two years in the pre-primary section. These schools are entitled to get Rs10,200 a year for each child admitted under the quota from Class I onwards. "Our entry level is Junior KG, so we admit children at that level, but we do not get money for the two years of the pre-primary section. So this expense quota students has to be borne by the schools and parents of other children," said a principal, who was participating in an RTE online demo session organised by the education department on Friday.

An official of a school in Goregaon complained: "No one is clear about the implementation of the act. We admit children under the RTE from the nursery level according to the number of seats we have in Class I. We would be pulled up if we didn't But it is a loss for the school as the government does not reimburse the expenses."

The school had raised this issue recently, but parents protested against a proposal to raise the fees.

Asked about this concern of schools, an education department official said that S Choklingam, education commissioner, had assured at a meeting on Wednesday to ask the state government to consider reimbursing the schools for the pre-primary years.

Aided schools are also confronted by this problem. "While our schools are aided from Class I, the pre-primary section is not aided. We have to bear the expenses of students admitted under the quota for the pre-primary years. Unlike unaided schools we cannot even pass on the burden to parents," said Vilas Parab, principal, Balmohan Vidyamandir, Dadar. He also pointed out that expenses were not covered after Class VIII.

On Friday, principals and staff representatives from about 100 unaided, non-minority schools attended the orientation workshop to acquaint them with the online RTE admission process.