BENGALURU: Private unaided schools, which are facing a financial crisis because of the pandemic, have asked the state government to release the Right to Education (RTE) funds.
On Friday, the government released Rs 103.4 crore under a special Covid-19 package for teachers and other staffers of unaided schools. The managements of these schools allege that the education department has asked them to adjust the package against the pending RTE funds. This could not be confirmed with officials.
Last month, chief minister BS Yediyurappa had announced a onetime Covid relief of Rs 5,000 each for staffers, and these grants were released on Friday. At a press conference on Saturday, Shashi Kumar, the general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), claimed that money owed to schools had been given in the form of a relief package.
He said that officials at various levels had reduced several components of RTE reimbursement and left many underfunded schools to fend for themselves. “We are still to receive the arrears of our last year’s RTE funds. This year, out of Rs 700 crore, we have received only the first instalment. We have now been asked to adjust the Covid special package under the RTE payment, which is unacceptable,” he said.
Kumar claimed that schools had not been given funds for expenses, contingency, repairs, rent, maintenance and salaries. They complained about it to the education department and the chief minister last month. Several representatives from unaided private schools in the state participated in Saturday’s press conference and shared their financial distress because of the lack of RTE funds. “It is a matter of injustice to the schools, which are not being given what is rightfully theirs,” Kumar added.
.jpg?w=600)
