LUCKNOW: Upset with the state government for not having reimbursed the fees for educating children under the Right to Education (RTE) Act in the past two years, around 2,000 private unaided schools in Uttar Pradesh have decided to boycott the RTE admissions due for the academic session 2018-19.In Lucknow, there are 300 schools, both affiliated with the Council of Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBE) who have refused to admit students under RTE.Taking a collective call, private schools across the state have, under the ambit of Independent Schools' Federation of India (ISFI) decided to not admit any child under RTE in the academic session 2018-19, till their dues are cleared. The schools are also opposing the reimbursement rate of Rs 450 per child per month fixed by the state government. "The government has fixed Rs 450 arbitrarily, and has not followed the formula mentioned in the RTE Act,'' said ISFI's state president, Madhusudan Dikshit.As per the RTE Act, private unaided (non-minority) schools reserve 25% of their seats for free admissions to students selected by respective state governments under RTE norms. In lieu of these free admissions, schools receive a fixed amount per year, per child. According to the RTE norms, the state government is liable to reimburse private schools either the fee amount actually charged by the school from children or the per-pupil expenditure in the government school system, whichever is lower. "State government spends an estimated Rs 5,000 per month per child in its own schools which impart low-quality education. On contrary, private schools charge lower fees and yet impart quality education," said Alok Mishra, principal, Greenfield Academy, Sitapur.Earlier in January, 3,000 private unaided schools in Maharashtra had refused to take RTE admissions due to non-payment of dues from the respective state government. "There is dissatisfaction and unrest among the private schools. In fact, few have not been able to pay salaries to their teachers, and have come to the brink of closure. On the one hand, 75% children are bearing the burden of the 25% (admitted under RTE), but on the other hand, the government is squeezing the fee levels of private schools," Dikshit said.