The Education Department has failed to pay the fee of the students studying under the Right to Education (RTE) Act in the State. Almost Rs 247 crore has been pending for nearly three years now.
It is pertinent to mention that the RTE Act permits students to study in schools for free under two categories. First are the students belonging to deprived background and the second are the students belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST). The State Government pays the amount which gets fully reimbursed by the Central Government. The students get to study under the RTE Act from nursery to class VII.
In the year 2018, about 97,000 students were studying under RTE in the State. About 3,300 students applied for admission in the year 2019. More than Rs 247 crore is to be paid to the private schools.
Primary education additional secretary Jyoti Yadav said, “The sum has been pending since 2017. The State Government first pays the amount which gets fully reimbursed by the Central Government.
However, the State Government lacks fund which has become the problem. We have sent a proposal to the Central Government highlighting our issue but the sum is big and hence is going to take time.”
Adding further to this, she said, “We do get complaints from the schools but the situation is not desperate yet. It is obvious that the pending money will eventually be paid.
