BENGALURU: The state government on Tuesday informed the High Court that it has revised the fee to be reimbursed to private schools against the students admitted for primary and pre-primary classes under the Right to Education Act.
According to the notification issued on March 23 and submitted to the High Court recently, the government said the total annual fee to be spent on each student studying in primary government schools has been increased from Rs 11,848 to Rs 16,000 for the 2017-18 academic year.
Similarly, the annual fee to be spent on a student studying in pre-primary schools has been hiked from Rs 5,924 to Rs 8,000.
Accordingly, the authorities concerned are asked to reimburse the revised amount to the private schools against the admission of children belonging to poor and weaker sections under the provisions of the Right to Education Act.
Recording the submission made by the government, a division bench of Justices Ashok B Hinchigeri and K S Mudagal disposed of a contempt petition filed by the Associated Managements of Government Recognised English Medium Schools in Karnataka.
Earlier, the state government had submitted that the state Cabinet had taken a decision to revise the fee to be spent on students and that it has been revised. Now, the notification to that effect has been submitted before the court.
In its plea, the petitioner association had stated that the government had not considered the representation seeking to revise the fee to be reimbursed for admitting children under the RTE Act, even six months after directions given by the court.
On June 1, 2016, while hearing the plea, the court had directed the principal secretary to the Primary and Secondary Education Department to dispose of the representation of the association expeditiously within six months from the date of the receipt of the order. But it was not considered and hence the contempt plea was filed, it said.