250 private schools in UP threaten to stop RTE admissions

Around 250 unaided private schools in Uttar Pradesh have decided not to admit students from the economically weaker sections (EWS) until the state government reimbursed the last three years' fees payable to private schools for admitting students under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

The Unaided Private Schools Association (UPSA) delegation met senior officials of the basic education department with a request to look into their demands, failing which they will not be able to admit a single student under RTE from the new academic session 2021-22.

UPSA president Anil Agarwal, said, "Under section 12 (2) of the Right to Education 2009 and a Supreme Court judgment, a government has to pay a certain amount to schools for admitting students under RTE.

"This amount is the actual expense incurred per pupil in a year according to his or her class. For the last three years the government has not paid the private schools for admitting students under RTE."

He also said the state government did not come up with any formula on how the per-student expenditure of the students admitted under RTE will be paid to the schools.

It was declared that Rs 450 will be given per RTE admission by the government but how this amount was calculated or what formula was used was never communicated to the schools.

Agarwal said that the expenditure of the students in all classes cannot be the same, as the salary paid to teachers of the senior class is more than that of junior classes.

"According to rules, the government has to calculate and notify the re-reimbursement amount every year on September 30 but this has not been done," he said.