Unaided schools may have to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh and also risk losing recognition if they fail to register anew at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) website before October 31.
According to Section 18(1) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and Rule 11 framed by the State government, all unaided schools having any classes from 1 to 8 have to get new recognition to show compliance with the Act. The department has enabled an online software for this purpose.
From May 25, when the software became active, only 3,386 (21 per cent) out of 16,481 unaided schools in the state have registered with the new software.
“The Act and rules mandate schools to get registered to show compliance with RTE within six months of framing the rules. Uploading details of the schools will in no way let the government interfere in their management. It will only help us have a database of schools for better implementation and monitoring,” said S R Savari Nadhan, Senior Assistant Director of the e-Governance Wing at DPI.
An official notification asking schools to apply for a new recognition was sent by the DPI to schools on May 14, Director (Primary Education) A Devaprakash.
The notification stated: “Any person who establishes or runs a school without obtaining certificate of recognition or continues to run the school after withdrawal of recognition shall be liable to fine which may extend to `1 lakh. In case of continuing contraventions, a fine of `10,000 for each day shall apply.”
“We also have offline registrations to help rural schools to approach block education officers (BEOs) with hard copies of details of the schools. After October 31, we will issue notices to schools and then levy the fines prescribed. Withdrawal of recognition is also an option under the Act,” Nadhan said.
Registration Details
School managements can visit www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in for the online software. For technical queries, schools can contact rteedukar@gmail.com