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large number claiming to be linguistic
and/or religious minority institutions
exempted from applicability of s.12
(1) (c) by a Supreme Court judgement
(Unaided Private Schools of Rajast-
han vs. Union of India (2012).
The reluctance of private school
managements to admit EWS chil-
dren under s.12 (1) (c) is also due to
the poor record of the Maharashtra
government in reimbursing private
schools, even the partial cost of edu-
cating children admitted under this
provision of the RTE Act. S.12 (2) of
the Act directs state governments to
reimburse private schools the cost of Primary children in Kolkata school: modest progress
educating children admitted under
s.12 (1) (c) calculated on the basis of WEST BENGAL the Covid pandemic — the world’s
the average per-child cost of education longest — West Bengal’s was even
in government schools. Little solace longer (99 weeks). Schools restarted
But on this account, the Maha- in all states before West Bengal.
rashtra government’s unpaid dues to he annual status of educa- Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s
private schools have accumulated to tion report (ASER) 2024, a neglect of education during the pan-
Rs.2,400 crore with reimbursement Tcomprehensive school educa- demic was severely criticised because
to some schools pending for several tion survey pertaining to 2023 con- the prolonged schools’ closure is
years. Therefore, a rising number of ducted annually by the well-known estimated to have forced 8 million
BPS and upscale private schools ad- Pratham Education Foundation, students out of the state’s 65,000
vance one legal argument or another was released on January 28 in New primary schools.
to avoid admitting poor neighbour- Delhi. For the survey, a representa- In response, and perhaps to
hood children under the RTE Act. tive sample of 649,491 children aged counterbalance the extended educa-
overnment spokespersons rou- 5-16 years in 17,997 villages of 605 tion lockdown, in West Bengal’s
Gtinely promise to fulfill this man- rural districts of India were tested state budget 2022, she allocated
dated obligation. Sharad Gosavi, for language and arithmetic attain- Rs.43,466 crore to the education
Director of Primary Education, says: ments. The findings highlight modest sector (16.8 percent of total budget
“We are working to ensure that ad- progress in reading and arithme- of Rs.258,726 crore) — 13 percent
missions for 2025-26 are completed tic skills, as well as recovery from higher than in 2021. As a percentage
on time. The process began in January pandemic-induced learning loss. of the budget, the 16.8 percent al-
and we intend to conclude it by May Surprisingly, West Bengal’s over- location was higher than the national
to ensure that the s.12 (1) (c) quota all performance is better than the average (15.2 percent). In 2023, the
is filled.” He adds that the recently national average. ASER 2024 reveals outlay for education was increased
elected BJP/NDA government has that 54.6 percent of Bengal’s class to Rs.45,812 crore and last year, the
constituted a committee, led by the V children can read class II texts TMC government introduced a gen-
Commissioner of Education, to im- (national average 27 percent), 41 der and child budget with an alloca-
prove transparency and efficiency to percent can do basic sums (national tion of Rs.96,271 crore and provided
smooth admission of poor neighbour- average 33.7 percent) and 35 percent Rs.900 crore for class XI students to
hood children into private schools as can solve simple division sums buy tablets and smartphones.
mandated by the RTE Act. (national average 30.7 percent). However, Banerjee’s belated
However, the May-end deadline Bengal’s class VIII children showed education damage control initiatives
for admission of EWS children into a slight edge in reading (71.3 vs. 71.1 have been considerably negated by
neighbouring private schools is likely percent), but their maths proficiency scams and scandals which resulted
to prove elusive until the state govern- (division sums) was lower (33.7 in several orders of the Calcutta high
ment clears the dues of private schools percent vs. 45.7). court staying teacher recruitment
forthwith to restore their faith and In this connection it’s pertinent and appointments for over a decade
confidence in government. to note that against India’s average because of the repeated TET (Teach-
Megha Chowdhury (Mumbai) 82 weeks education lockdown during er Eligibility Test) paper leaks and

FEBRUARY 2025 EDUCATIONWORLD 19