Edu dept official says action to follow against schools violating the Act

RTE Act flouted, private schools charge admission fee in Bandipora

Bandipora, Mar 07: Scores of parents in Bandipora district Tuesday claimed that the private schools are charging admission fee for their wards despite getting admission under the Right to Education (RTE) Act quota.

The RTE Act 2009 became applicable in J&K following the abrogation of Article 370 and reorganization of J&K into a Union Territory (UT).

Many parents told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that they are being charged fee by the school management thus violating the law mandating RTE) Act.

"A few days ago, we admitted two kids to a private school in the district and were asked to pay fee of about 11000 for each one which is totally unfair and against the law," said a parent. “The school management would not allow admission to the children unless we don’t pay fee,” he added.

He said that the government has miserably failed to implement the RTE Act in schools as the private schools are creating hurdles in its implementation.

Similarly, two mothers who have admitted their children in a school also complained that the admission fee has been collected from them. "The school charged money from us and the receipts mentions we have paid some maintenance fee," the said.

"One of my relatives has paid 10,000 as Maintenance Charge while admitting his ward in one of the private schools He was not been given any receipt for the same," Sameer Ahmad, another local said.

Many parents appealed to the Chief education officer (CEO) Bandipora to take legal action against the schools who are flouting the rules.

An official said that private schools in the district charging an admission fee will face legal action. "Private school that charges admission fees must reimburse the fee to parents without delay, or else the school will be stripped of its recognition," he said, adding that a committee had been constituted to monitor the adherence of the order—(KNO)