Reimburse dues of private schools in Haryana, says federation

Chandigarh, March 31

A day after the Haryana Government omitted Section 134-A from the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003, the Federation of Private Schools demanded reimbursement of the outstanding arrears amounting to over 1,500 crore to the private schools from the state government.

Kulbhushan Sharma, federation president, alleged the state government was dragging its feet on the reimbursement of the fee of over one lakh meritorious but poor students, who were admitted to private schools under Section 134-A since 2014-15.

The quota of beneficiary students, including economically weaker sections, Scheduled Castes, backward classes, children of widows, handicapped, HIV-positive and orphans, in private schools is now pegged at 25 per cent as against 10 per cent under Rule 134-A. While only poor but meritorious students were admitted under Rule 134-A, all above categories would now be admitted under the RTE Act. The concept of neighbourhood schools for admission under RTE Act would strictly enforced, officials asserted.