The demand for cancellation of the 25 per cent quota in private un- aided schools under the RTE Act is laughable and anti-student. The state government is reimbursing the cost per student to private schools under RTE.
If these children were in government schools, it would have spent the same amount on their uniforms, mid- day meals, school fee, infrastructure, and recurring and non -recurring expenditure. So the argument that the government is spending money on private schools is very wrong.
It is the government’s responsibility to provide quality education to all children and money spent on their education cannot be called wasteful expenditure.
Also, except in a few schools, the RTE quota has been able to bridge the social divide as students from both rich and poor families now study together. It is a positive development. And the RTE quota helps students join a school of their choice as well.
But extending it to pre- schools is a gamble because anganwadis provide children of this age nutritious food, vaccinations and so on. If pre- schools have an RTE quota, they will draw poor students, but then they will not get the nutritious food and other facilities they are accustomed to.
The writer is an activist
