Urging the district collector to intervene and resolve the fee reimbursement issue, students enrolled under the Best Available Schools Scheme (BASS), along with their parents, staged a protest at the district collectorate on Monday, June 23.

A district official said nine schools in Nizamabad have been selected under the scheme, with pending dues running into crores. A similar situation prevails across the state, the official added, attributing the issue to policy delays, according to a report by The New Indian Express.

With many schools already reopening for the academic year, parents urged officials to take measures to safeguard their children’s education. They submitted a representation to District Collector T Vinay Krishna Reddy during the Prajavani programme.

He assured them that he would hold discussions with the Scheduled Castes (SC) welfare officials, the district educational officer (DEO) and school managements and promised to resolve the issue within two days. Following this assurance, the protest was called off.

The protesting parents said the state government launched the scheme several years ago to ensure SC and Scheduled Tribes (ST) students get access to quality education in private and corporate schools. The SC Welfare department selects students through a lottery system — Classes 1 to 5 are admitted to day schools, while Classes 5 to 10 go to residential schools in Nizamabad, Armoor, Bodhan and Bheemgal.

However, several schools that have been part of the scheme for years have not received fee reimbursements for the last two years. As a result, some school managements have asked parents not to send their children until dues are cleared, as per the report by The New Indian Express.