Caught between the Maharashtra government and private schools over the non-payment of the Right to Education fees, students from financially challenged backgrounds stand to lose most.
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The state government has not paid most private unaided schools the fees for students admitted under the Right to Education Act for over three to four years. While some smaller private schools are struggling financially, others have threatened to boycott admissions under the RTE Act.
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From protests and letters to court cases, private schools have been pursuing the state government in various ways for RTE fees due to them. Around 50 private unaided schools from Kolhapur, Satara, Aurangabad and other parts of the state filed several cases against the government over the non-payment of RTE fees for up to four years. The Bombay High Court had directed the government to make the payments pending from 2019 to 2022 within six weeks.
Rajendra Chorge, vice-president of the Independent English Schools’ Association and chairman of one of the petitioning schools, said, “Despite the September 21 court order, the state government has not paid us. So we are now in the process of filing an application to initiate contempt of court proceedings. This problem exists all over Maharashtra and over Rs 3,000 crore are pending in fees for students admitted to private schools under RTE.”
As many as 82,772 students were admitted in the 2023-24 academic session in private schools across the state. In 2022-2023, there were 4,79,659 students studying in private or unaided schools. The number of RTE students in the previous years were 4,36,668 (2021-22), 3,86,854 (2020-21), 3,13,372 (2019-20) and 2,54,351 (2018-19).
According to the Right to Education Act 2009, students from financially challenged backgrounds can take admission to private schools through a centralised process from the primary level to Class 8. Up to 25 per cent seats in private schools can be filled this way. The government bears the cost of these students’ education and pays the private schools accordingly.
However, owing to delays in payments from the government, several schools struggle to meet the teaching and infrastructural costs. Others even turn to illegal practices like denying admission or seeking fees from parents.
Deputy Education Officer Momin Asma Begum, who looks after the implementation of the RTE Act in the state, said, “Our department receives the funds from the Maharashtra government. We have not got funds for three to four years now. When we get the funds, we allocate them further to schools.”
Director of Education (Primary) Sharad Gosavi said, “We have collected district-wise and school-wise data about pending payments from 2012 to 2021-2022 and are in the process of sending a proposal to the state government for the same. Once that has been sent, we can give further details,” He agreed, however, that the pending amount is at least over Rs 1,000 crore.
“There are 250 students in my school, which is up to Class 8. So not receiving the fees of over 60 students makes a major impact,” said Rajiv Mendiratta, director of a school in Chinchwad.
He explained, “Sometimes the teachers’ payments are delayed and if the regular students’ fees are also defaulting, it becomes very difficult to keep the school running. We have to keep infrastructural maintenance costs in check and it impacts the overall education quality in the long run. We have not received complete payment for over three years now. Many schools have actually shut down because of this.”
Earlier this year, a school in Kolhapur allegedly asked parents for fees for RTE admission, citing the delay in payments from the government. They promised to pay the parents back once they received the funds from the government.
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