Mangalore, Jun 7: Students Federation of India has said that the private schools have managed to arm-twist the Education Department as well as the State Government. This is evident because more and more relaxation and encouragement is being given to the private schools in the name of Right to Education Act.
Ananth Naik, State President, Students Federation of India (SFI) in a meeting held at Mangalore to discuss issues concerning RTE Act and its effective implementation in Dakshina Kannada district, said that the state government is bowing down to the private schools in the name of RTE while its original duty is to protect government schools and provide an equal platform for quality education for all.
Govt overspending
“Government of Karnataka is shelling out Rs. 11,840 per poor student given admission in private schools under the 25% quota created by the RTE, while other state governments are not spending more than Rs 3,000 to 5,000 for the purpose. A huge sum of money is being thrown in the kitty of private institutions by the government while on the other hand government schools continue to remain neglected," he said.
School closure
In the BJP government's tenure, about 10,000 government schools were closed down and about 38,000 teacher posts continue to remain vacant. The government says that schools are closed due to lack of children but there are about 1 lakh children who are away from schools. If the government makes attempts to bring them back, schools will be full and there will be no need to shut them at all, he informed.
Dept blind to violations
Mr. Naik said that RTE rules are far from being effectively implemented in the state as no action is being taken in spite of hundreds of blatant violations of the Act.
“As per the Act, it is clear that no school can collect any kind of donation or capitation fee but private schools continue to demand donations from children admitted under the 25% quota and their non-reservation counterparts too. We reported about 120 such cases but no action was taken. About 4000 illegal schools continue to function in the state, in spite of the RTE Act making it clear that such schools must be closed down within six months. Cases of discrimination of children in private schools are also frequently reported but no action is taken against them by the government. The Education Department on the other hand has become a puppet in hands of private schools”, he alleged, and pressed for the creation of a uniform education system with no barriers of CBSE, ISCE, state syllabus, aided or unaided classifications of schools so that there is equality in education to go with uniform quality of education.
No vigil
Renni D'Souza, education activist, said that readiness mechanism is still not in place in the district to oversee effective implementation of the Act. Violations of the Act are not being treated as serious offences which is being taken advantage of by the private institutions. Removal of reservations for minorities and SC/STs from SDMCs is also a worrying factor, he said.
Quota not filled
Lalitha, a private school teacher from Krishnapura, sharing her concerns said that in her own school, parents looking to admit their children under the RTE quota are having a tough time with the formalities. The call for applications for the quota was made in June last year but for this academic year, the procedure began as early as January itself. As a result, only 2 of the 13 seats available under the quota have been filled in the school as many parents were not even aware of the call for applications and those parents wanting to apply now are being asked to run from pillar to post, asking for income certificates from them.
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