BENGALURU: Parents of students admitted under the Right to Education (RTE) Act quota in private schools are worried as their children enter Class 9 this year. With no financial support beyond Class 8, the parents worry about the steep fees and whether they can sustain their child’s education until Class 12.
Many of these parents, including auto and taxi drivers, daily wage labourers, and painters, told TNIE that without government support, their children’s schooling might come to an abrupt end. They also highlighted that schools demand full payment within a month after the academic session begins, with no option for installments, making it even harder to manage expenses.
Karnataka was the first state in India to implement the RTE Act in the 2012-13 academic year. However, since then, requests to extend the provisions of the Act have remained pending.
“My daughter will soon be passing out of Class 8 this year. However, the school management has already started sending circulars, asking us to pay the fee for Class 9,” Mohammed Pasha, an auto driver said.
Selvagam Mani, an auto driver, told that his son was not admitted in two schools as the management cited that his scores are less. “My son is an average student and has studied in a CBSE school. However, we could not continue with the same school as the fee structure for Class 9 was Rs 3.8 lakh and other CBSE schools refused to admit him, as they were concerned about their Class 10 results. Shifting to a different board was difficult for him, as the syllabus is different,” Mani said.
With school fees in Bengaluru not being less than Rs 2.5 lakh in most schools, members of the RTE Parents Association questioned how they are expected to pay such high amounts. “ If we could afford it, why would we have registered under RTE?” they argued.
Stories of 500 excellent students under RTE to be compiled
To convince the government to extend the scheme until Class 12, Child Rights Trust activists told TNIE that they are compiling more than 500 success stories of RTE students from Karnataka who have excelled academically. Nagasimha G Rao, Director of the Child Rights Trust said that the number of students getting admission under Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act, which requires private schools to reserve at least 25% of their seats for children from disadvantaged sections, is becoming low.
The state must conduct a study to track where these children go after completing Grade 8. When TNIE reached out to the education department officials, they mentioned that the matter is already in discussion for a long time and that the move to extend the RTE may burden the government.