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Under RTE, the number of students admitted to private schools has reduced in TN
Posted on: 18/Sep/2018 9:55:54 AM
The latest news is under the RTE Act or Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, the number of students getting admitted to the private schools in Tamil Nadu has dropped down.
This is the first time in the recent years this drop has happened and it has attracted the attention of many now. According to an official data it is now revealed that only 70000 students managed to get admissions in the private schools in TN under the 25 % RTE quota. One important point is record number of applications have been received from the candidates in the state of Tamil Nadu and just 70,000 students got admission. The main reason was due to revision in the admission guidelines in this year.
It must be noted that those candidates who resided inside 1km radius of the private schools were considered for admission to these private schools. This was confirmed by an official belonging to state school education department. Till last year, during the second and subsequent rounds of admission process, applications from the students who resided within 3km to 5km radius were considered.
An official expressed his thoughts in this and spoke about how the centre had not only denied reimbursement claims made for admissions under the RTE Act in the kinder garden sections but also delayed in releasing the funds. He later spoke about how the state has been playing its role in spending over and above the allocated budget to bridge this funding gap.
The state has sought amount of Rs 99 crore as total reimbursement towards expenditure incurred for 25% admission under the RTE quota in 2015-16. This has been suggested in the SSA or Samagara Shiksha Abhiyan project approval board meeting. The amount that has been sanctioned by the HRD ministry or central government was just Rs 27.6 crores.
RTE Activist, Mr. Eswaran expressed his thoughts and spoke about how if the seats remain vacant then other states like Maharashtra increase the radius to 3km or 5km. He explained how government cannot cite funds shortage as a reason to revise guidelines when there is a provision. To make the scheme more efficient, the government can fix the loopholes in admitting the students belonging to SC/ST/BC/MBC groups. He spoke about how the students become eligible only after submitting their community certificates.
It is important to note that as per section 12 (1)(c) of RTE Act, 25% seats in the private schools are reserved for the students having age between 8 and 14, belonging to weaker sections(having an annual income of less than Rs 2 lakhs) and disadvantaged groups. If RTE Act doesn’t accept KG admissions, then the state must instruct the private schools to readmit the students in class 1. The applications could be submitted for the reimbursement. This was also confirmed by Mr. Eswaran.
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