RTE

Amit Chandra

NISA

Marathwada

IESA

Singh

Wagholi

Hadapsar

Stepping Stone School

Nandkumar Kakirde

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

state education

Teaching, non-teaching staff, principals and owners of over 700 city schools will sport black dresses and tie a black ribbon on their arms to observe a ‘Black Day’ on October 12 to create awareness regarding contribution of private unaided schools to education and their current circumstances induced by theAct., national coordinator of National Independent Schools Alliance () shed light on the fact that private schools have had 25 per cent students from the Right to Education (RTE) quota since 2012, who have been taking education for free. “We are important stakeholders and thus, are asking for inclusion in decision and policy making processes,” he said.The demand comes after NISA’s country-wide survey that pointed at 7,349 schools shutting in Maharashtra over last four years, due to the RTE Act. Another 3,000 schools were shut die the non-reimbursement of the 25 per cent RTE quota seats.“Most of these schools were self-financed, which according to the norms, should have owned or leased one-acre land. There has to be a fixed deposit of Rs 5 Lakhs for three years. After this investment and taking no fees from the 25 per cent students, it was difficult for these institutions to sustain by charging just Rs 500-3,000 per month. Thus these schools had to shut.bore the biggest brunt as drought amplified the worsening circumstances, where even regular students could not pay the fees. Pune faced a similar situation where people even had to sell out the schools,” informed Jagruti Dharmadhikari, president of Independent English School Association ().The state government has made it compulsory for the schools to keep RTE quota seats vacant till Class VIII. Rajendra, secretary of IESA said with parents given an option for these seats, schools in areas likeandhave lost demand. “Around 8-12 per cent of the quota remains vacant. The neighbourhood students of the general category are also not able to avail the seats,” said Singh, who also questions the lack of government self-sufficient system to educate every child in Maharashtra.These denials have got the school officials to celebrate the Black Day, to gain visibility for their problems injected by the RTE. Rajiv Mendiratta, director of, said, “We will be surely following it with black ribbons on our arms and a black flag on gate and also on school vans. The intervention of the RTE has increased a lot, and the pressure has become too much. We have told the government of the problems and the chief minister, but they have gone unheard.”, director of theschools, added, “The education department has been behaving in an uneducated fashion. We have lost over Rs 5 crore in fees and the demands are just increasing.”Other institutions like Priyadarshani School, Matru Vidyalaya, Saraswati Bhuvan English School, Master Mind School, The New Millennium English Medium School & Jr. College, Novel International School, Juniors Orchid School, Saraswati Vishwa-Vidyalaya National School and New English School have confirmed their participation. Over 2,800 schools are participating in the state and over 60,000 from the country.As the schools gear up for the protest,secretary, Nandkumar, has assured that the payment problem will be resolved soon.█ Around 8-12 per cent of the quota remains vacant. Students of the general category are also not able to avail the seats