Indian Express: Pune: Wednesday, September 25, 2013.
For the
academic year 2013-14, only 44.2 per cent of the 1,32,953 seats reserved for
socially and economically disadvantaged sections of society were filled under
the Right to Education (RTE), Act 2009. Information obtained under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act paints a poor picture for the urban centres, while rural
areas seemed to have done a good job in filling seats under the 25 per cent RTE
quota.
While replying to an RTI application, the
Directorate of Primary Education said this year, only 58,727 seats were filled
under the RTE quota in 9,071 schools across the state. Of the admitted
students, 26,648 seats were filled by students of economically weaker section,
while 21,127 students of Schedule Caste were admitted. As many as 6,283
students of Scheduled Tribes and 4,666 physically handicapped students were
given admission under the Act. A total of 74, 226 earmarked seats have remained
vacant.
Analysis of
the data showed that urban centres have failed to implement the Act properly,
while rural and backward parts of the state have fared well in filling up seats
under the RTE Act. Jalgaon with 236 schools had 2,507 seats, of which only two
remained vacant for the current academic year. Similarly, in Dhule of the 1,327
seats, only 50 remained vacant.
Districts of
Akola, Washim, Yavatmal, Parbhani, Jalna, and Solapur saw more than 70 per cent
of the reserved seats being filled. More than 60 per cent admission under the
quota was observed in districts of Buldhana, Amravati, Beed, Nanded and Sangli.
Rest of the districts witnessed 50 or lesser percentage of seats being filled
under RTE.
The data
revealed that within the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) area not a
single admission was given under RTE. Pune had filled 50.9 per cent of the
seats under RTE, while in Nashik 42 per cent of the seats were filled under
RTE.
RPI
corporator with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Dr Siddharth Dhende blamed
the education department for its failure to implement RTE properly. “Many of
the minority institutions shy away from giving admission under RTE as they say
their primary sector is unaided. However, they continue to enjoy privileges
given by the government. The government should make special efforts to ensure
that the RTE is implemented properly as it would be doing justice to many
socially backward people,” he said.
Mahavir Mane,
director of primary education, said the department has taken ample steps to
ensure that RTE is implemented properly in the state. “We even extended the
dates and said that EWS students seeking admission under the 25 per cent
reserved quota should never be denied admission irrespective of the time of the
academic year. But still the admissions are less,” he said.
Putting the
onus on the schools for the non implementation of the Act, he said: “Many
schools did not follow the right procedure for admission of students under RTE,
hence there number is unaccounted for. Then there was confusion among schools
whether they come under the purview of RTE or not and hence many didn’t follow
it. Many schools have also approached court, saying they do not come under the
RTE Act.”
Mane said the
ratio of compliance in admissions of EWS students under quota was better than
in urban schools because there are less unaided schools in rural areas and they
mostly comply with the government norms. In urban areas, although there is more
awareness, all parents want their kids to be sent to renowned schools, he
added.
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