The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is yet to respond to Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam’s letter seeking funds to implement the Right To Education (RTE) Act.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 5, the Chief Minister had stated that the Central government had to reimburse Rs. 97.04 crore to Tamil Nadu for expenses incurred on admitting students from weak and disadvantaged sections to private schools.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) State project director Pooja Kulkarni told journalists here on Friday that the fees of the students admitted under the RTE Act had to be shared between the Central and State governments on a 65:35 ratio.
The Chief Minister had stated that due to “unilateral and arbitrary amendments to the SSA framework, Tamil Nadu’s claim of Rs 25.13 crore was not admitted. Further, the claim of Rs 71.57 crore for 2014-15 has been restricted to a measly amount of Rs 14 lakh.”
Ms. Kulkarani was in Coimbatore on Friday to review the implementation of (RTE) Act and chaired a meeting of private schools .
While this legislation mandates private schools to set aside 25 per cent of their total seats to students from economically and socially disadvantaged families, schools were reluctant as the fees of such students have not been reimbursed for the past three years.
School Education Department Deputy Director K. Arivazhagan told the associations representing private schools that the reimbursements would be made at the earliest and directed them fill the RTE Act quota.
Inspector of Matriculation Schools (Coimbatore) Geetha said there were 4,304 seats identified in the RTE Act quota. However, only 2,214 applications have been issued as on May 14. The meeting discussed ways to fill the remaining seats by the deadline of May 19. However, it may be extended, she said.
Many schools had displayed information over the RTE Act seats only on notice boards and have been asked to put up boards near the entrances.
