Aided schools of Dakshina Kannada district have said that they need more time for re-registering the recognition status of their schools, according to Raviraj Shetty, President, Karnataka State Aided Primary Primary School Teachers Association, Dakshina Kannada.
Speaking to The Hindu after a conference of the association in the city on Wednesday, he said aided schools, according to the RTE, must provide details of their recognition status by October 28 including details about the society running the school. However, not all aided schools were run by societies. While big schools had societies, sometimes, an individual managed an aided school. The issue required a closer look and more discussion. “So we have asked for six more months for aided schools to provide all information about recognition,” he said.
Mr. Shetty said that there was no point in saying that 25 per cent of the seats (in aided schools) should be reserved for students from a specific segment under the RTE. This was because aided Kannada-medium schools were admitting more than than 25 per cent (even up to 100 per cent) of their seats to students, for free. There was no question of not giving seats, he said.
The association had demanded that the Government give two teachers for lower primary schools for each class for lower primary and four teachers for higher primary in aided schools, which was in accordance with the Right to Education (RTE).
The association presented a list of demands, which said that Kannada should be made compulsory from Class 1 to 5 and along with Kannada, English has to be taught in Classes 6 to 10 in aided schools. The association asked that with new schools, one (government or aided) lower primary school should be allowed within a radius of 1 km and one (government or aided) higher primary school should be allowed within a 3-km radius.
Training for teachers in aided schools should be limited to a period between April 13 and 25. Teachers called to attend training sessions affected students. The association demanded that the ratio of teachers to students should be made 1:25 in aided schools. Staff of aided schools (at least the headmaster and Kannada teachers) must be given increase in salary, allowances and incentives as are given to the teaching staff in government schools.
A professor from the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Hassan, spoke to teachers from 236 aided schools about the RTE. The aided school staff said that they were working with heart and soul in their schools, which are located in areas where there are no government schools.
