Patna: Over 24 thousand private schools in Bihar will have to get registered under the right to education (RTE) act or shut down their operations for ever.
These schools are operating in the state for several years, but refused to register under the RTE as they required admitting poor students on 25% of the total seats. Taking serious exception to private schools’ approach to bypass the mandatory norms, primary education director of the education department Mithlesh Mishra has issued an order to all unregistered schools to follow the rule or face permanent closure.
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The directorate of primary education has decided to put all private schools on board on the instructions of additional chief secretary, education, S Siddharth.
According to the new order of the education department, all private schools will have to come under RTE Act. Registration of schools coming under RTE will be compulsory. A fine of one lakh will have imposed on those schools, which refused the registration.
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Mishra said that all private schools will have to apply online by August 15. On the question of the infrastructure of the school, he said that we will look at the infrastructure. “Whether the school is a one-room or a hundred-room school, it will be examined later,” he said, adding that the schools, which opted for registration will benefit from the government grants.
“The government will dole out grants for enrolling poor children under the RTE Act. The department has begun accepting online applications for registration under the RTE. Earlier, only offline applications were entertained,” said the primary education director.
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The department is striving for registration of all private schools with a view to curbing the scope of irregularities in the private schools and also checking duplicity in enrollment the students. A senior officer of the education department said that the payment of grant to private schools were disrupted for want of procedural delays and compliance report of the RTE Act by the institutions. “One installment of grant has been given to the schools. Some amount of grant is still lying in the treasury. Admission is being done on Gyandeep portal,” said the officer.
The department has decided to open window for registration of the private schools. “We are clearing payment of grants to all the registered schools. If any school, which could not receive the grant shall apply for it. So far, private schools have taken admission of 27 thousand students this year under the RTE Act. Last time, 22 thousand students were enrolled. 4600 students have been enrolled from class 1 to 8. The government offers Rs 11,000 for enrollment each student each year,” said the officer.
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There are 1.84 crore children in government schools. Out of this, Aadhar seeding of 1.24 crore has been done. “Aadhar seeding of children in private schools is very less. There are 33 lakh students in 13,000 private schools. Out of these, 17,000 have got Aadhaar seeding done. This is less than half a percent,” said the primary education director.
