Mismatch in Government RTE fee payback

While the schools will now heave a sigh of relief as the state government has passed orders approving the first instalment of reimbursement for Right To Education (RTE) quota seats, the amount seems to be falling short by Rs 61.60 lakh.

According to the government order, Rs 58.92 crore is the total amount payable to schools and it released Rs 29.46 crore as the first instalment.

The figure was arrived at after taking into account the fact that 49,736 children were admitted under the RTE Act, and the reimbursement for each child is Rs 11,848.

But interestingly, statistics from the Education Department show that 50,256 children have secured admissions under the RTE Act. By this yardstick, the total amount payable to schools should have been Rs 59.54 crore. This means a difference of 520 children and Rs 61.60 lakh.

The GO says the reimbursement fee can be availed from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Society budget, and the Commissioner for Public Instruction has been given access to this fund.

Vipul Bansal, state project director of SSA, said he also noted the discrepancy in the fee amount as mentioned in the GO.

“I have seen the difference as well. If we give it a couple of days more, we can know exactly what has happened. It may be that only 49,736 children have joined Class one, whereas the rest 520 children have joined pre-primary,” he justified.

The reimbursement fee for pre-primary class is Rs 5,924.

Commissioner for Public Instruction S R Umashankar told Express that he would look into the issue and take further action.

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The New Indian Express
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