Mridula Sinha addresses the meeting in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, July 11: Not enough number of students from poor families is coming to seek admission in posh English medium schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. A few who have enrolled at these schools are far less informed in comparison to other students and need special attention from teachers.

These are some of the problems that surfaced at a meeting conducted by human resource development (HRD) department’s secretary Mridula Sinha with principals of private schools today.

Sinha said many schools have complied with the RTE Act’s guideline of offering education to students from BPL families. Under this act, the schools have to set aside 25 per cent seats for such students — in the age group of 6 to 14 years — residing within a radius of 2km radius. The state government will pay their fees till they turn 14.

“There are over 2,000 private schools in the state. I have asked the principals to submit the lists of BPL students who have taken admission so that the state government can reimburse the fees,” Sinha said.

Sinha said once the report from schools about admissions of BPL students — routed through respective district superintendent of education — reach her, she would be able to say how many schools have actually implemented the act.

“I had asked the parents through a public notice to come and avail the benefit of RTE act. But as this is the first year, the response has not been very good. Only four students have taken admission in my school,” said principal of St Xavier’s School Father Ajit Xess, who attended the meeting.

The principals blamed lack of awareness for the poor response. They hoped they the number of beneficiaries would go up next year.

Meanwhile, Sinha said the HRD department, if required, was ready to relax the 2km radius norm and extend it so that more poor students could study in good schools.