There has been a 50 per cent rise in the number of children belonging to EWS families studying in various private schools under the Right to Education Act, with the number rising from 20 lakh in 2014-15 to over 33 lakh in 2017-18, the Rajya Sabha was informed Thursday.
HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar was replying to Supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on the number of students studying/admitted under Section 12(1)(c) mandating all private unaided schools and special category schools to admit in class I, the disadvantaged and economically weaker sections of the society. "From 20 lakh studying in 2014, this year in 2017-18, 33 lakh students are studying. But, many states have to declare, because it is in the state domain and state governments have to notify how much fees they will reimburse per student to private school," he said. The Minister said as many as 22 states have notified the rates, but in West Bengal no notification has been issued.
Javadekar said that in the last four years, the number of students learning under these schools has risen by 50 per cent. He, however, said the problem was that the states were not giving information on the number of students learning in private schools and whether the mandated 25 per cent of the total strength is filled. There are a total of 2,44,702 private schools in the country, including 6,000 minority schools which are covered under the scheme. "We have written umpteen times to these states and we are emphasising. As many as 15 states have notified the per child cost norms for reimbursement and only there admissions are happening," the Minister added. "The expenditure of reimbursement which was Rs 250 crore in 2014-15, is now Rs 1,345 crore during the last year," he said.
