Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Apr 30: Following the amendment to the rules to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) by the state government, in which government schools were given preference over private schools in a given locality, the number of seats have fallen drastically.

In the academic year of 2019-20 the number of seats available under the RTE quota are reduced to 424 and 46 in the districts of Dakshina Kannada (DK) and Udupi respectively. In the beginning when RTE quota seats were first introduced in the academic year of 2012-13, Dakshina Kannada had 1,645 and Udupi was given 1,061 seats under the RTE quota. In 2013-14, the number of seats in DK went up to 1,652. 25% of the seats were reserved for students belonging to the backward classes and weaker sections of the society, when the rule was introduced.

Taking a note of the sudden fall in the number of children joining government schools, the state government passed an amendment to the RTE bill in December 2018 and gave preference to government schools over private schools. Because of this change, most of the private schools have fallen out of the RTE quota.

Giving clarification on the amendment, Y Shivaramaiah, DDPI said, "In most places in the state both private and government schools are available. As per the new rule of the government, a child can be enrolled in a private school under the RTE quota, only if there is no government school available nearby."

1,884 students joined private schools under the RTE quota in the academic year of 2018-19. However, since the amendment of the RTE rule Mangaluru South has got the highest number of seats with 138 and Moodbidri has had the lowest of 16 seats.

The RTE act was introduced with the aim of providing quality education for children. The act also stipulates the student-teacher ratio, basic amenities and other facilities for extracurricular activities in the schools. The government has asked the private schools to provide 25% reservation to the poor children.

The availability of seats in private schools was calculated on the information that was provided by the DDPI and BEO when the same was introduced. But accusations surfaced about the discrimination to the children admitted under RTE quota in private schools.

The amendment of the act will save crores of rupees to the state exchequer as the government used to bear the fees for the children, who were admitted into private schools under the RTE quota.

In the district of Udupi, 1,370 RTE seats were available when the scheme was introduced in 2012-13 in 101 schools. However, this year this figure is reduced drastically to only six seats.

The private schools that are included in the RTE quota are St Antony School at Sastana, Parkala UHPS School, Innanje SVH School and Mulladka St Joseph school according the information shared by reliable sources.

In the taluks of Byndoor and Kundapur there are no private schools that are allotted any seats under the RTE quota. According to the DDPI, the parents have already submitted the applications online.

DDPI Shivaramaiah said, "The number of applications submitted will be kept in strict confidence and the department will not have any clue about it. The list of eligible students will be declared only on May 10 after verifying the documents."