Jamshedpur Private Schools Threaten Court Action Over RTE BPL Seat Reservation, Reimbursement Dispute

Jamshedpur: An association of 40 private English-medium schools here have threatened to go to court against the state govt and to put a stay on the 25% seat reservation under the RTE 2009 for below poverty line (BPL) students in their respective institute. The move came after the govt refused to reimburse the institutes for teaching the BPL students. However, the state govt refuted the claim and issued a letter, stating that the schools were not given the funds as they were located on Tata Steel-leased land and fall under the category of “govt-aided schools”.

The association also claimed that though their schools are located on Tata Steel-leased land, they are not getting the land for free. Addressing a press conference on Friday, the chairman of the Association of Jharkhand Unaided Private Education Institutions (AJUPEI), Nakul Kamani, said, “The state govt is not cooperating with private schools’ management in Jamshedpur when it comes to reservation of 25% seats in all classes for students from BPL category.”

He further said, “As per the RTE Act 2009, private schools must reserve 25% seats in each class for BPL students. The state govt agreed to provide a paltry Rs 425 per BPL student even though the actual cost is much more and borne by the schools. The govt’s share has not been provided for more than three years.” AJUPEI secretary Srikant Nair also said, “The amount, though small, has accumulated to several crores in the last two to three years. Now, the respective school managements are finding it tough to run their institutes as all of them are unaided ones, which run on fees collected from the students and not on any govt grant. Our extra burden is the BPL students, who should be helped monetarily by the govt.”

He said, “As we have no option left, 40 unaided schools under AJUPEI have decided to knock at the doors of Jharkhand HC by seeking a stay on further admission of BPL students from upcoming academic year.” He added, “The other option is to hike fees of general category students, which will be unfair to parents.” East Singhbhum education department officials refused to comment on AJUPEI’s claim.