The Right to Education Act mandates 25 per cent seats in the schools for the economically weaker section (EWS) children, but the genuineness of the Below Poverty line (BPl) status of most of them is under a cloud.
As many as 65 per cent school principals have expressed their apprehension with regard to their genuineness, reveals a survey done by a group of youngsters through documents accessed under Right to Information (RTI). According to the study, 55 per cent school authorities or principals said they do not have the manpower to verify it physically and said that it was the Government’s responsibility to do the same.
As a result of the lethargy both on the part of the Government and schools, only 267 out of 2,600 BPl students have been admitted in the ICSE and CBSE-affiliated schools in 2013-14.
“Overall, 508 admissions were done so far in the last three academic years which is just 1.6 per cent of the total estimated seats,” said an HRD department official. Elaborating further, Secretary of the study group RK Singh associated with a local NGO said, “The last BPl survey of Ranchi was recorded in 1995. After this, despite conducting a study on the slum dwellers no report has been published till date. Moreover, schools are usually unable to enroll BPl children due to unavailability of funds from the Government. On September 13 last year, the State Government was supposed to get Cabinet approval to send an individual amount of Rs 5,100 for each school regarding ‘25 per cent BPl student seat quota under RTE norms’ but nothing was done. This is comparatively ‘low’ amount as the survey indicates that a school needs at least Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per annum as average fees.”
“State Government officials have no record of specific BPl category seat availability in each school. The admission either requires BPl card or Income Certificate of BPl. An income criterion for non-BPl cardholder is Rs 36,000 per annum as per the norms of Government. Unfortunately, the Circle Officer does not consider this norm and entertains only the BPl ones whose annual income is either Rs 48,000 or Rs 72,000 per annum. As a result, 88 per cent slum dwellers are not enrolled in BPl list,” maintained Singh citing one of the major reasons for low BPl student ratio in the schools. The finding also reveals Jharkhand Government’s major policy gaps.
Singh said that there is no rule with regard to 25 per cent quota in unaffiliated schools in the State. He said, “In Jharkhand there is no definition of unaided minority schools. States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have made it clear that only those schools will be considered minority schools, which impart religious education like Vedic Pathshala or Madarsas. However, there is no such rule in this regard in Jharkhand. Though there is a general understanding that schools run by religious minority groups like Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are minority schools. So, on the basis of this, few schools run by Christian missionaries have sent legal notice to the Education Department stating that they have been exempted from this RTE norm. Also, the norm for Kendriya Vidyalayas is unclear,” he pointed out.
“We just want the Government to follow the guidelines of RTE and provide better education opportunities to the BPl students,” said Chandan Singh, another young member of the group. RTE Act mentions for support till Class VIII. However, it can be extended till Class X or 12 according to preference of the school.