Yet to get fee from TN govt for RTE seats: Pvt schools

CHENNAI: With the new academic year to start, private schools in Tamil Nadu complain that the state government has not disbursed fee reimbursement for the students admissions under Rights to Education (RTE) Act for the last two years.

The RTE Act has been implemented since 2013 according to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and Tamil Nadu Rules, 2011.

A senior official from the School Education Department said that on an average every year about 70,000 students from economically poor backgrounds benefited from the RTE scheme. The students could join private schools from LKG to Class I and continue their studies till Class VIII without paying the fees.

All the fees were borne by the state government and it would be reimbursed to the schools accordingly.

However, Tamil Nadu Private Nursery, Primary, Matriculation, Higher Secondary, and CBSE Schools Association claimed though all the private schools have admitted the students under RTE as per the norms, still the state government has not reimbursed the fees for the last two years.

KR Nandhakumar, general secretary of association told DT Next that “after several protests from our side, the government has issued the order to reimburse the amount. However, it was not done”.

Claiming that as the academic year for the students was over, still the RTE admissions’ fee reimbursement have not been received for the last two years, he said “most of the private schools, which availed loans for paying salaries to the teachers, were facing difficulty in repaying it”.

“The bank account numbers of the private schools have not changed and there is no hurdle for the government to pay us”, he added.

DC Elangovan, secretary, Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu, a big forum in southern districts, said “the government had not only failed to reimburse the fees for the last two years but also decreased the fees amount”.

Stating that the federation had already sent a detailed memorandum to the state government, he said “however, no action was taken so far”.

He said “due to the non-payment, the management of the private schools were under severe pressure to run the institutions in the coming academic year”.

According to the School Education Department’s policy note of 2022-2023, the government has said under the RTE provision during the academic year 2021-22. Rs.314.64 crore has been reimbursed to the schools which have admitted children under this category for the year 2020-21.

Similarly, the policy note of 2023-2024 said that Rs 364.44 crore have been reimbursed to the schools which have admitted children under this category for the year 2021-22.