The Ranchi district administration seem to have utterly failed to kick-start awareness camps in the first and second week of August to create awareness among the school authorities about various facets of enrollment of BPl kids in private schools. The present status of enrollment is considerably even less than 50 per cent.
As per the records available, in Ranchi till March 2016, as many as 639 applications were received and approximately only 301 BPl kids were admitted in 2016-2017 academic session in different schools.
The State HRD Minister also appears to be clueless on the dates for organising camps. “We are trying to enroll maximum BPl kids in private schools as per the set norms. Specifically, the detailed report has been asked from DSE about the present status of BPl students’ enrollment in the private schools in Ranchi,” said HRD Minister Neera Yadav.
On the other hand, Ranchi DSE Shivendra Kumar blamed the attitude of the private schools management for delay in conducting the awareness camps. “Earlier the camps were scheduled to be organised in the first and second week of August. So far only 10 schools have submitted the detailed list of BPl students. Even reminding them several times, none of them are taking it seriously and finally we had to reschedule the camps date. Now, after August 15, camps will be organised at various places. The department will also conduct meeting with the school principals after August 6,” he said.
The problems in reimbursement of fees meant for the BPl students and is one vital reason for school authorities to show lackadaisical regarding the matter. The State cabinet had approved the state HRD department’s proposal in 2015 to reimburse private schools Rs 425 per month per BPl student admitted under the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009.
“Though this year, we have been assured by the department that the money will be reimbursed soon after filling the details but the school has not received a penny. Since 2012, we are admitting BPl kids. In this academic year, we have admitted six BPl kids. There are certain constraints like age issue, distance problem which need to be clarified by the officer in charge through awareness campaigns, if the State Government wants ensure better enrollment outcome in future,” said, Oxford Public School, Vice Principal, AK Singh.