After a prolonged delay of three years, last month (August) the Maharashtra state government paid the first instalment of tuition fee reimbursements due to private unaided schools which admitted children from poor households in their neighbourhoods, as prescribed by s.12 (1) (c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
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Under s.12 (2) of the Act, the “appropriate government” — usually the state/municipal government — is obliged to partially reimburse private unaided schools the expense towards educating students admitted under the RTE Act by paying them the equivalent of per child expense it incurs in its own government schools. Typically, payment of even these paltry amounts (especially for high-end private schools) has been delayed for over three years. The aggregate amount of Rs.19.38 crore paid to schools in August covers class I admissions in the academic year 2012-13 and class I and II admissions for the academic year 2013-14. An official of the Maharashtra government’s primary education department, who prefers to remain anonymous, admits that the amount disbursed adds up to only 64.30 percent of the total amount due to private unaided schools which have admitted children under s.12 (1) (c).
Unsurprisingly, private school managements are underwhelmed by the state government’s largesse. Comments S.C. Kedia, honorary secretary of the Mumbai-based Unaided Schools Forum (USF) which has 225 member schools: “This reimbursement has come in too late and without payment of any interest. Moreover the government hasn’t acceded to our long pending demand for reimbursing expenses incurred on poor children admitted into pre-primary classes of K-12 schools.”
With the Supreme Court upholding the RTE Act’s constitutional validity on April 12, 2012, private unaided (i.e, financially independent) schools in Maharashtra were obliged to reserve 25 percent of their seats for socially backward children in class I or earlier if they also provided pre-primary education.
With composite K-12 private schools rightfully also demanding reimbursement of fees due for children admitted into pre-primary classes, on April 30 this year, the newly elected BJP government of Maharashtra issued a government resolution (GR) “cancelling” all pre-primary admissions made under RTE Act in the academic years 2010-11 to 2014-15. Arguing that the RTE Act is applicable only to children aged 6-14, it has rejected any reimbursement claims from private schools who admitted children into their pre-primary sections. According to government officials, annual pre-primary dues would aggregate Rs.129 crore. Expectedly, composite schools have challenged the April 30 GR of the state government under the USF banner.
Earlier on April 28, a division bench of the Bombay high court had directed the “appropriate government” to pay private unaided schools their dues as per provisions of the RTE Act. “The appropriate governments cannot shirk their responsibilities by saying that they are under no obligation towards pre-primary education,” observed the judges. Predictably, instead of complying with the court’s order, the state government issued its GR and filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile with the state government not having paid its long-standing dues to private schools for admissions into pre-primary classes, the USF has sent it a notice for contempt of court.
“The state government isn’t clear about provisions of the Act and is reneging on its obligations to pay us our rightful dues. This is a breach of trust and very discouraging and stressful for managements of private unaided schools, many of whom are contemplating closure of their pre-primary sections,” says Jayant Jain, president of the Mumbai-based Forum for Fairness in Education.
Annoyed with and blaming the state government for their financial difficulties, unaided schools are in a confrontational mood and undecided on whether to admit students to class I under the RTE Act henceforth. Inevitably this dispute will land up in the Supreme Court which will take its own time in dispensing justice.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of children in Maharashtra (pop.112 million) will have to continue to suffer in crumbling dysfunctional government schools.
Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)