Without reimbursement, EWS enrolment hangs fire
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 3
While the admission for nursery class has already started, city schools are in a quandary whether to enrol children from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) without the release of arrears and income certificates.
Private schools have been reluctant to admit any child in the wake of delay in reimbursement of fee for 25 per cent EWS seats, which they are entitled to get under the RTE Act.
HS Mamik, president of the Independent School Association, said: “As an association, we have decided to support the RTE Act completely. However, students will be admitted only after the arrears of the EWS are cleared before the end of the academic session. The dues have not been paid for more than seven years now. The Education Department has been paying partial dues since 2010-11.”
According to an official, the reimbursement amount is being calculated after taking into account the recurring expenditure on a child divided by the number of students in elementary section of schools. Sources in the department confirmed that a revised reimbursement amount will be decided in a meeting to be held this week.
However, private schools oppose the criteria saying that the total budget for school education should be divided by the number of students in government schools — including administration cost, pensions and teachers cost.
According to the Programme Approval Board (PAB) 2018-19 report, a proposal for Rs 68.45 lakh was made for the reimbursement of fee against 25 per cent admissions under Section 12 (1) (C) of the RTE Act-2009 at the entry level, which was inclusive for years from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
However, a provision under the scheme was available with effect from 2014-15 only. The UT notified per child cost of Rs 1,370 for 2014-15 and has reimbursed Rs 20.73 lakh to 25 private schools for admission of 131 children under Section 12(1)(C).
Out of the total amount, Rs 2.96 lakh was reimbursed to two private unaided schools for the admission of 18 children in Class I and above. Reimbursement for 18 children was estimated with total outlay.
There was no proposal made for reimbursement for 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Parents a harried lot
Meanwhile, parents are a harried lot in the absence of issuance of income certificate from the DC office. Several inquiries have been received by the District Education Office from parents asking for an alternative to the income certificate.
Parents have been told to obtain an affidavit of self-declaration in the meantime until an official word on ‘EWS income certificates’ comes from the Education Department.
Director, School Education, Rubinderjit Singh Brar, said: “We have written to the DC after taking permission from the Governor.”
Nitin Goyal, president of the Chandigarh Parents Association, said: “This is a classic example of red-tapism where the DC office issued an order last year that the SDMs won’t issue income certificates anymore, and that self-declarations should be acceptable in all schools. Instead of enforcing the DC’s order, the Education Department sat over the issue for a full year and has now sent a letter to the DC to start issuing income certificates again. Even if the DC office agrees this time, it would be impossible for them to carry out the verifications and issue certificates to the EWS applicants by December 14 — the last date for submitting admission forms. As a result, poor parents will be harassed and the fate of the EWS admissions is uncertain.”
