Amid the escalating row between the State Government and private schools over the rule 134 A of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003, the private school owners on Monday submitted a memorandum to Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki demanding that education vouchers be given to EWS students and implementation of the RTE Act in the State.
Rule 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules states that private schools shall reserve 10 percent seats for meritorious students belonging to Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and the school shall charge fee from these students at the same rate as charged in Government schools. Earlier, the State Government had reserved 25 percent seats for EWS category under Rule 134A, but it was reduced to 10 percent in 2013 following strong protests from private schools.
At present, the owners of private schools in various district are staging demonstrations and have decided to close their schools for an indefinite period to protest the implementation of Rule 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003.
The memorandum to the Governor demanded scrapping of Rule 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003, and the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
“Haryana Government is not willing to pay any reimbursement for teaching poor students under Rule 134-A. So, we demand the release of education vouchers per month for all poor students,” said Kulbhushan Sharma, president of National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA) while talking to the mediapersons.
“The private schools are compensated by the government to educate EWS wards everywhere in India, but in Haryana, Rule 134-A has been used as a tool. Haryana government is yet to initiate talks with us on the issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Manohar lal on Monday said that the State Government is seriously trying its best to resolve the issue and the future of the students would be secured.