Megha Chowdhury (Mumbai)

With Maharashtra (pop. 127 million) experiencing continuous political turmoil — the state has been ruled by multiple governments, including the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the BJP-backed Shiv Sena faction, and the current coalition, in the past five years — its 65,639 public/government schools are going from bad to worse.

According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 of the highly-respected Pratham Education Foundation released on January 28, 42 percent of class V children in rural government schools can’t read class II textbooks, and 76 percent can’t solve simple division sums.

Therefore at this time every year there’s a huge rush in every household for admitting children into the state’s 43,305 private schools. And because private schools are unaffordable for poorest, bottom-of-pyramid households, s.12 (1) (c) of the landmark Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides a small window of opportunity for their children to study in private schools where the quality of education is far superior. Under s.12 (1) (c) non-minority private day schools are obliged to reserve 25 percent capacity in class I for children from poor households in their neighbourhood, and retain them free-of-charge until completion of class VIII.

Yet despite the RTE Act mandating 25 percent reservation in private schools for EWS (economically weaker students) children, admission processes for these children continue to be plagued by bureaucratic inefficiency and legal hurdles. In Maharashtra, parents are obliged to await admission (by a lottery process) right until the start of the new academic year and uncertainty forces them to enroll their children in neighbouring fees-levying budget private schools (BPS).  Education activists warn that if the process is not concluded by end-May, as mandated by law, thousands of EWS children could lose the chance of admission into best neighbourhood private schools.

“Every year, we hope for a smooth process, and every year, we are disappointed,” says Nitin Dalvi, an education activist and representative of the Maharashtra State Student Parents Teachers Federation. “Parents wait until May for RTE admissions, but with no guarantee of selection, many are forced to admit their children into a BPS.”

With most private schools opposed to “partial backdoor nationalization” despite the Supreme Court having upheld s.12 (1) (c) while exempting minority and boarding schools, every year, thousands of RTE seats remain vacant due to private school managements delaying admissions, by raising legal disputes on definitions of “neighbourhood”, “poor households”  and a large number claiming to be linguistic and/or religious minority institutions exempted from applicability of s.12 (1) (c) by a Supreme Court judgement (Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan vs. Union of India (2012).

The reluctance of private school managements to admit EWS children under s.12 (1) (c) is also due to the poor record of the Maharashtra government in reimbursing private schools, even the partial cost of educating children admitted under this provision of the RTE Act. S.12 (2) of the Act directs state governments to reimburse private schools the cost of educating children admitted under s.12 (1) (c) calculated on the basis of the average per-child cost of education in government schools.

But on this account, the Maharashtra government’s unpaid dues to private schools have accumulated to Rs.2,400 crore with reimbursement to some schools pending for several years. Therefore, a rising number of BPS and upscale private schools advance one legal argument or another to avoid admitting poor neighbourhood children under the RTE Act.

Government spokespersons routinely promise to fulfill this mandated obligation. Sharad Gosavi, Director of Primary Education, says: “We are working to ensure that admissions for 2025-26 are completed on time. The process began in January and we intend to conclude it by May to ensure that the s.12 (1) (c) quota is filled.” He adds that the recently elected BJP/NDA government has constituted a committee, led by the Commissioner of Education, to improve transparency and efficiency to smooth admission of poor neighbourhood children into private schools as mandated by the RTE Act.

However, the May-end deadline for admission of EWS children into neighbouring private schools is likely to prove elusive until the state government clears the dues of private schools forthwith to restore their faith and confidence in government.