Bhubaneswar, June 22: The state government has ordered an inquiry into private schools in the state to check whether they are complying with the Right to Education Act guidelines.

The school and mass education department has sent notices to around 5,600 schools to submit a report, failing which they will face penalty or closure notice.

The Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2005, mandates 25 per cent reservation for children from economically and socially disadvantaged sections in private unaided schools. But, the department has found out that a number of schools in the city are not adhering to the norm.

"The schools were given a grace period of two years to meet the RTE norms, which is almost over. It has come to our notice that only 16 schools have followed RTE guidelines," said Chudamani Seth, the director of elementary education.

A team comprising block education officers and district project co-ordinators of various districts will visit schools and submit its report within a month. A high-level committee will take the final decision on the schools.

The defaulting schools may have to pay a fine up to Rs 1 lakh or their no objection certificate to run the school may be withdrawn.

The list also includes around 14 popular schools from Bhubaneswar. The block education officer of Bhubaneswar, Snigdha Mishra, said: "We have sent letters to the schools to keep their status reports ready. We will visit every school to check the reports. The process will start tomorrow."

A majority of the schools are of the opinion that admission into the reserved section depends on the approach of the parents of students.

"I can assure you that our school is following the norms and we have also mentioned this in our school prospectus. We cannot go about asking people whether they belong to that category. They have to come and seek admission. We have a few students studying in that category while many seats are still lying vacant," said Saurendra Mohapatra, secretary of the managing committee of MBS Public School, Bhubaneswar.

Other facets under the RTE norms such as whether the schools are providing basic infrastructure, drinking water facility, playground and maintaining the required pupil-teacher ratio will also be scrutinised.