The Karnataka government is looking at tweaking the 25 percent RTE quota available for children from poor households in unaided non-minority schools. According to sources, the department of primary instruction has proposed to follow the Kerala model in which seats in neighbourhood government schools are filled first, followed by aided schools and then unaided schools.
However, considering that accessibility to primary education in Karnataka is near cent percent, and majority of the government schools have unfilled seats, children from poor household might not get chances to vie for a private school at all. Educationists have already cried foul for robbing the poor of chances for better education in English medium which government schools fail to provide.
The compulsory admission of children from poor neighbourhood households (defined as households earning less than Rs 3.5 lakh per year) into private non minority schools under RTE Act, 2009 has always been a sore point in Karnataka. This provision of the RTE Act requires independent schools to reserve capacity of 25 percent in Class 1 for poor neighbourhood children and retain them free of charge until completion of Class VIII.