Mid-day gets six-year-old admisson to school

Days after midday highlighted how Sarvodaya Vivek Jeevan Vidya Public School at Gadhinglaj in Kolhapur flouted the Right to Education RTE Act by refusing admission to a girl from the economically weaker section EWS its management on Monday gave a written undertaking to the education department that she would be admitted free of chargeThe school administration turned down the childrsquos parent Ganpat Gaikwad even after he had received confirmation that his daughter was eligible for free admission under the RTE quotaThe Sarvodaya Vivek Jeevan Vidya Public School at Gadhinglaj in KolhapurThe school officials informed Gaikwad that he would have to pay full fees when he tried to secure admission for his daughter to Std I He was also told that the school would refund the amount only once the state government reimbursed the school The parent then approached the state school education department with the help of an educational NGOAlso readMumbai Civic officials being picked for antipollution task forceAccording to government rules EWS students can secure admission to private schools under the 25 per cent RTE quota The government pays up to R17000 per eligible student annually until the student is promoted to Std VIIIThe governmentrsquos payment has repeatedly been delayed over the years and the management of private schools has been vocal about the delay The government owes private schools that offer RTE admission around R1 crore each in payments from the academic year 201718 to dateFollowing the new development Gaikwad said ldquoI thank everyone who supported me and helped me And I appeal to parents to come forward and fight for what is rightfully theirsrdquoAlso Read Mumbais Byculla Zoo expected to welcome new penguin chicks this yearNitin Dalvi a Maharashtra State StudentParent Teacher Federation representative and educational activist said ldquoWe highlighted the issue and assisted the parents in complaining However what about parents who have no backing and are left dejected What about other schools that are exploiting poor parents Itrsquos time for the education department to conduct a survey and audit of all schools Look at what is happening at the ground level Resolving issues in just one school will not resolve the larger problemrdquoSharad Gosavi the state director of primary education remained unavailable for commentAsha Ubale education officer primary Kolhapur said ldquoThe problem has been resolved and the child will be admitted as per rules stipulated by the RTE Act No school can refuse admissions or collect fees from students allotted seats under the 25 per cent quota17KAmount govt pays schools per eligible studentyearDeadline for RTE admissions extendedThose allotted seats under the RTE quota had until April 25 2023 to finish registering and confirming school enrolment However parents have complained about technical glitches due to increased traffic on the RTE admission portalThe portal even crashed on April 19 inconveniencing thousands of parents Following this Gosavi extended the deadline The new deadline for RTE admission now is May 8 as per a government notification issued on April 24