Despite the State Government's attempt to provide quality education to more and more students belonging to the underprivileged sections of society, 7,478 seats are still lying vacant in the private schools of the state under Right to Education (RTE).
The data of education department shows that only 13,013 students have enrolled themselves in the current academic sessions under RTE in the private schools of the State, while 20,491 students took admission last year.
The RTE Act was implemented in the State in the year 2011 under which the private schools of the state are bound to reserve 25 percent seats in their class I for the students of poor parents. The education department reimburses the fees of the students till the student reaches the highest class of that school.
Dehradun district with 3,791 admissions is at top of list this year while 3398 students have taken admission in the Udham Singh Nagar district. The data shows that very few admissions took place in Pithoragarh (98), Chamoli (140), Rudraprayag (163) and Nainital (221) districts this year. Interestingly, in Udham Singh Nagar district 6180 students took admissions under RTE last year but this year the figure is only 3398.
The RTE mentions that the schools should take admissions in the seats reserved for the underprivileged sections till the last date of the academic session but practically all admission take place before September 30. When asked about the decrease in number of students enrolled this year under RTE, the deputy director Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Kusum Pant told The Pioneer that time is still left for admissions in this academic year and the numbers would improve.
The former director of state Academic Research and Training Anil Kumar Negi was of the opinion that the less number of the student enrollment this year is due to less publicity. He said that awareness is still less in the society about the benefit provided by the Government.
The section 2 D of RTE clearly mentions that the students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), non creamy layers of Other Backward Castes (OBCs), patients of leprosy and AIIDS should be the beneficiaries of 25 Percent reservations under RTE. The section 2 E includes the individuals with an annual income of less than Rs 55,000 as the beneficiary of the aforesaid scheme under the RTE.
The students belonging to the above two categories can opt any school in their neighborhood and enroll themselves in class I of that school. The schools are bound to give admissions in the reserved seats and in case the seats are not filled they should keep them vacant. These vacant seats should be filled only by the students belonging to the underprivileged sections any time during the academic session.