VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Tuesday informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court that 25 per cent of seats in the private schools will be reserved for students from economically backward classes as per the Right To Education Act from the next academic year in the strictest sense.
In an additional affidavit submitted to the court, Principal Secretary (School Education) B Rajasekhar informed the court that eligible students are being identified and a special web portal for the purpose is being prepared. He sought three months' time for the implementation of RTE in private schools. A Public Interest Litigation filed by advocate Tandava Yogesh in 2017 seeking 25 per cent reservation to EBC students in private schools as per RTE came up for hearing before the division bench headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra.
Government pleader for education department KV Raghuveer submitted the additional affidavit seeking three months time. The court adjourned the case hearing to next week. In the affidavit, the principal secretary explained that a meeting with all the departments concerned were held for preparing guidelines for the implementation of RTE. He said for the academic year 2021-22, private schools saw 1.19,550 admissions for class 1 and as per RTE, 29,887 should be reserved for the RTE quota.
The government finalised the fee structure for private schools and issued orders on August 24. As per the GO, primary schools in village panchayats have to charge Rs 10,000 per year and for high schools, it was Rs 12,000 per year, for schools in municipalities it was Rs 11,000 and Rs 15,000 and in municipal corporations it was fixed as Rs 12,000 and Rs 18,000. For implementing RTE quota for class I, it would require Rs 33 crore.
For its implementation under pay and reimburse mode, permission of the Central government is needed. To send the proposals, how many students would apply needs to be assessed. As it has to be done in three phases and a separate web portal needs to be created, 2-3 months time is needed for implementation of RTE quota.