School trustees protest against education department’s delay in clearing their dues.

School trustees under the banner of ‘RTE Foundation’ have decided to sit on a four-day relay hunger strike starting Tuesday, to protest against the education department’s delay in clearing their dues.

The organization’s president Sachin Kalbande told TOI the education department was ignoring their demands.
Kalbande said, “Right to Education (RTE) Act quota admissions are done diligently by all eligible schools. But there are many schools which have not received reimbursements for the admissions done by us.”
To make a bigger impact, Kalbande and other members of the RTE Foundation will hold their relay hunger strike in front of the education office. From 10am till 7pm, they will sit outside the education office to draw attention to their demands.
Kalbande said there were other issues too about which they were unhappy. “The education department has not been proactive in cracking down on unauthorized schools. There are small schools operating without any permission from the government or whose recognition has not been renewed. We do not want parents to be defrauded, hence want the education department to do something about this,” he said.
RTE Foundation has also raised objection to schools changing the category under which they were given recognition. “There are schools which got permission under ‘permanently unaided’ category and now they have been moved to ‘self-financed’ category. This may make them eligible for financial aid later, and that’s not right,” said Kalbande.
He added that if the education department did not clear their dues, then admissions for 2021-22 under the RTE quota won’t be carried out. The RTE admission process is completely online and handled by the education department. But the final step has to be completed at the school itself and that’s where RTE Foundation plans to put its foot down.
RTE admissions are done only in nursery/KG/Std I. Since these have not reopened yet, the admission face-off has not yet happened.

This article is for educational purposes only.

The Above Article is published on Time of India by Abhishek Choudhari |  Feb 8, 2021, 12:47 IST

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