Private school associations of Haryana seek clarity on 'reimbursement'

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, April 5

A day after the Directorate Elementary Education, Haryana, issued a schedule and guidelines for the admission of students belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) and disadvantaged groups in private schools under the right of children to free and compulsory education Act, the private school bodies have sought clarity over “reimbursement”.

The private school bodies said the reimbursement of teaching EWS students under Rule 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules was the prime reason behind the dispute between the private schools and the government, and the government should finalise the reimbursement first to avoid the same issue in the RTE Act.

The Act provides 25 per cent admission to the EWS and disadvantaged group students in private schools.

As per the letter issued by the directorate, the students can submit applications for admission from April 16 to April 25, lottery draw will be held on April 29, while May 5 is the last date for admissions.

Kulbhushan Sharma, president, Federation of Private Schools Welfare Association, said, “As per this RTE Act, it is mandatory that the private unaided schools should be reimbursed expenditure so incurred by it to the extent of per-child expenditure to be incurred by the State of Haryana, or the actual amount to be charged from the child, whichever is less, but it has not been declared or finalised by the authorities yet. The government should shed light on this matter and finalise the reimbursement amount so that the schools get the lucidity.”

“It seems the decision of implementing the RTE Act has been taken in haste or under some pressure. There were many issues in 134-A and the policy could not be a success. We have sent a letter to Director Elementary Education and have sought clarity over the mechanism being adopted for the implementation of the RTE Act. The government should have taken the private school associations in confidence before announcing the schedule as the enrolments in the schools are either already over or are in the last leg,” he added.

Manipulation chances still high

The Education Department has issued the schedule and guidelines for admissions, but there is no communication regarding reimbursement. Earlier, fake income certificates were prepared to take benefit of Rule 134-A. This time, it has been linked with Parivar Pehchan Patra. Chances of manipulation in the income shown in family ID still can’t be ruled out. There should be a strong grievance redress mechanism. — Prashant Munjal, vice-president, Haryana Progressive Schools Association