Sandip Kolhatkar

Funds crunch for RTE students

Maharashtra English School Trustees Association

the office

commissioner

education department

Sanjay Tayde

president

Rajendra Singh

Mrudula Mahajan

Dr DY Patil Public School

trustee

Saraswati Bhavan English Medium School

Purushottam Bhapkar

state government

Tired of waiting for the promised reimbursement of the earnings lost in providing free education to the underprivileged under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 8,000 schools, members of the(MESTA), have threatened that they will not admit any children under the mandate in the new academic year, until their earlier dues are settled. They have submitted their memorandum toof the(Education), stating as much.“This is the third consecutive year the government has failed to pay up the fee we are foregoing for these children. Thehas been projecting the schools as being resistant to implementing RTE. But, so far we have been abiding by the law. However, now it has begun to pinch our pockets too much,” pointed outPatil,, MESTA.All the member schools will boycott RTE admissions till they receive the reimbursement for the previous years, he added.“We have been telling parents who have been coming with their allotment documents that we cannot accommodate their wards as no funds have come our way and we cannot sustain our operations providing quality education,” informed, director, Priyadarshini Group of School, that runs about five schools in the city’s industrial fringes.“We have been hearing about reimbursements for several months. Over the last three years, our group schools have accumulated an outstanding of Rs 10 lakh. Students admitted in the first year have reached Std III and we are still waiting,” Singh underscored. “It is high time the government got a little more pro-active. It should consider the fact that our operations are unaided and completely dependent on fee collection. We have been tossing with the idea of halting such admissions for a while now,” added, principal ofReflecting the collective frustration, Jagruti Muley, founder andof Pimple Gurav’s, recalled, “Every time we approached the education department for our money, we got vague responses and the officials refused to get into any discussion on the matter. Now they are imposing dual entry points at both pre-primary and primary levels. This is a violation of the RTE Act.” Trying to assuage the incensed spirit, education commissioner,told Mirror, “I appeal to the schools not to stop the admissions. I can assure that they will soon receive the fees. The department has received Rs 29 crore from thefor this and disbursements will happen shortly.”MESTA members are not impressed. “We have been hearing such assurances for the past several months but are yet to see a paise. We want a commitment on the date when the fees will be reimbursed,” Singh demanded. In fact, going forward, he suggested that Maharashtra should emulate Rajasthan, where the RTE mandated admission candidate is sent with a voucher that is quickly redeemed by the schools. Bhapkar said that such a system is under consideration.Populated by smaller schools in the state, MESTA has also been campaigning for these schools to be excused from the mandate of taking in underprivileged kids at the pre-primary level, for which no compensation is available under RTE Act. “Such CSR initiatives are possible for the bigger schools, but for us it is difficult to bear the cost,” Tayde Patil insisted.We have been hearing such assurances for the past several months but yet to see a paise. We want a commitment on the date when the fees will be reimbursedI appeal to the schools not to stop the admissions. I can assure that they will soon receive the fees