|
|
Ray of hope
|
Guwahati, March 19: The Assam government has asked all private schools in the state to provide free education to children from disadvantaged groups or weaker sections, reserving at least 25 per cent of the Class I strength for the purpose.
The notification to this effect, issued under provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and the Assam Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011, also stated that private unaided/specified category schools where pre-school education was imparted must also make room for the same percentage of children for free pre-school education.
An official communiqué issued this evening said the government would reimburse the expenditure incurred by the said schools in the process on the basis of the per-child expenditure borne by government schools or the actual amount charged by the school in question, whichever was less.
A state-level committee comprising the secretary, finance, secretary, elementary education, mission director, Sarva Siksha Abhijan, Assam; director, elementary education, Assam and director, SCERT, will assess the expenditure per child incurred by the state to determine the reimbursement amount for the schools.
The notification said the reimbursement would be directly deposited in separate bank accounts maintained by the schools in two 50 per cent instalments payable in September and January. The schools have been instructed to submit a list of admitted students to the district elementary education officer in July every year to claim the reimbursement.
The schoolwise names of admitted students would be maintained in electronic form and displayed in a public domain, the notification added.
The notification also instructed schools to ensure that the children admitted under the provisions of the act were not discriminated against when it came to facilities and entitlements nor should they be segregated from other children in their class. These children should not be placed in an exclusive section, nor should their classes be held in a different location or have different timings, it added.
The schools are to randomly select the students out of applications received for filling up the reserved seats to keep the admission procedure non-discriminating, rational and transparent. The notification said no screening test or interview of a child or a parent should be conducted nor should the child be profiled on the basis of parental education.
The notification will come into effect from the academic session 2013-14 starting July, the communiqué stated.
|
