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BHOPAL: More than 450 private schools , which admitted students under the RTE in 2015-16 session, are up in arms against the delay in reimbursement of their dues from the state government. These schools admitted the students under the RTE, but are not yet paid their dues for the last one year.

Of 954 schools in the district, which admitted students under the RTE, precisely 460 are waiting for the reimbursement. According to the RTE norms, the payment was to be reimbursed by March 31, 2016. However private school owners in Bhopal claim that the government has not paid the fee of students admitted under the scheme, which is violation of the RTE Act . Speaking to TOI, Madhya Pradesh private school association president Ajit Singh said the government has paid no heed to the demand despite their repeated requests. “It is not only the question of money, we are facing other issues due to the government’s lethargic approach. We are losing teachers because many schools are not able to pay salary to them in time. Similarly, various other works in the schools suffer due to lack of funds,” said Singh.

When contacted, nodal officer, RTE, Madhya Pradesh, KPS Tomar, refuted the claims of private school owners and said the government has completed 85 per cent of reimbursement across the state. “We have paid fee of over 85 per cent students studying under RTE in private schools. Only 2200 schools out of over 17000 private schools in the state are left now. These schools will also be covered in the coming week,” he said.

Tomar, however, blamed the school authorities for not filing the information in time, which is necessary under the RTE Act. Asked about the reason of delay for reimbursement, he said there were some technical issues on the part of private schools who have been notified and given a week’s time to resolve it. “We have also issued notices to the schools that have not provided the required information. After a week, we will not be responsible for any school or student,” he added.

On the other hand, private school association maintained its stand and termed the government’s charge as baseless. “Most schools have been awaiting reimbursement for the past three years now. It is not our fault, we have submitted our files and documents long back to concerned officials,” said the association members.

Meanwhile, the state recently released Rs 11.50 crore for 494 schools, which was supposed to have been released by March 31, 2016 for the last financial year. A senior official said the state might find it challenging to sustain the financial burden of RTE on its own, if the current situation continues in coming years.

