COIMBATORE:The State Platform for Common School System (SPCSS) has submitted a petition to the State Project Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), against the reimbursement of fees to private schools to facilitate admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, contending that public money cannot be transferred to private entities without any justification and accountability.
Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, all private, unaided, non-minority schools must reserve 25 per cent of their seats for children belonging to disadvantaged sections of society, and the government will reimburse the expenditure incurred by these schools for this purpose. The School Education Department had recently issued a GO, directing the State Project Director, SSA, to utilise the grant sanctioned for reimbursement of fees to the Unaided, Non-Minority private schools. The association said this was a blatant violation of the Act, and that the parents of these children from marginalised sections of society are being harassed and threatened by the schools. The General Secretary of SPCSS, Prince Gajendra Babu, questioned as to why no action was taken by the TN Government against the schools for not implementing the provisions of the Act.
The SPCSS requested the project director not to make any reimbursement until a thorough enquiry is carried out and a clear assurance on the reimbursement of money by the Centre to the State secured.