Page 28 - EW may 2026

Education News

is lower. Lower intake of s.12 (1) (c) children in private THEY SAID IT
schools reduces the government’s reimbursement burden,
while increased enrolment in government schools allows “Skilling has to be focused on areas that are
the state to distribute overheads, infrastructure and staff- different like AI, Pure Science, Cybersecurity
ing costs across a larger student cohort, thereby lowering and Sustainability, and not remain limited
per-child expenditure. Thus s.12 (1) (c) admission delays
and procedural bottlenecks raise questions about whether to generic STEM. This also improves the
the system is inadvertently — or deliberately — not facili- employability of students. Governments,
tating the admission of poor children into private schools industries, and institutions must work
as intended by the RTE Act. together to ensure every child has acess to
In 2025, when the admissions portal remained non- this level of skilling; whether it’s through
functional for a prolonged period, s.12 (1) (c) admissions building labs, training teachers, or bringing
were effectively stalled amid a broader funding dispute digital learning to remote areas. This will
between the Centre and state. Over Rs.617 crore in re- help India shift from education-centric to
imbursements under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme — a innovation-driven growth.”
Centrally sponsored program to improve school access,
equity, and quality — owing to the state government Ashish Modi, president, Honeywell India & APAC in an
essay titled ‘The STEM Multiplier: Preparing India’s
remained pending with the DMK government alleging youth to lead’ (Economic Times, April 27)
that the delay is linked to pressure on Tamil Nadu to
adopt the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and
Centrally-sponsored initiatives such as PM SHRI schools, “Today, American politics is even worse off
both of which programmes the state’s DMK government than yesterday. Assuming it will improve
has resisted. tomorrow requires, sadly, the triumph of
ith no clarity on s.12 (1) (c) admissions, many par- hope over experience.”
Wents preferred not to wait and enrolled their children Patrick Basham, Director, Democracy Institute, USA
in government schools. Although this imposed additional in an essay ‘What now in US politics’ (The Times of
pressure on public school infrastructure, including class- India, April 27)
room space, teacher availability, and learning resources, the
DMK government has interpreted the enrolment surge as a
sign of renewed confidence in government schools. “This is a new dawn in Bengal. The seats
“Low admission applications into private schools can’t won by BJP are not just a number. This also
be attributed to poor parents’ preference for govern- marks the uprooting of fear, appeasement
ment schools. It is the outcome of insufficient, ineffective and violence. A new journey begins in
awareness campaigns. Since these seats are meant for Bengal… Women will be safe, youth will get
children from marginalised households, the responsibil- employment and migration will end.”
ity of disseminating information and enabling access is PM Narendra Modi addressing BJP workers after the
with the state government,” says Dr. Sakthi Rekha, a party’s historic win in the West Bengal legislative
Chennai-based educationist and social activist, who also elections (May 5)
highlights arbitrary distance norms, which disqualify
children living beyond the prescribed 2-3 km radius of
private schools, and the hidden costs of schooling, includ- “The Scholars at Risk Free to Think report
ing uniforms and books, which many families struggle to classifies India as having “completely
afford despite free-of-charge admission. restricted” academic freedom. It cites
Despite over a decade since enactment of the RTE Act, declining university autonomy linked to
admission of poor children residing in the neighbour- rising political interference, and pressure
hood of well-resourced private schools under s.12 (1) (c) on institutions. Notably, it emphasizes
remains clouded in confusion and administrative apathy, the systematic enforcement of a Hindu
particularly in rural communities. Shift to a largely online nationalist agenda within higher education
application process has compounded the problem, creat- with changes to curricula, limited scholarly
ing barriers for underprivileged households lacking digi- exploration and reduced space for
tal literacy. Thus the benefits of the liberal and egalitarian
s.12 (1) (c) of the RTE Act remain a mirage for a large intellectual dissent.”
number of high-potential children trapped in dysfunc- C.P. Rajendran, geoscientisit, on academic suppression
tional under-performing government schools. signalling deep democratic decline in India (The
Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) Hindu, May 5)

28 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2026