Ahead of admissions under the Right To Education (RTE), the Maharashtra school education department has ordered a crackdown against 674 schools not recognised under the RTE Act. Mumbai alone has 239 such schools, the highest in the state.
The office of Director of Education (Secondary) Krishnakumar Patil, last week, issued an order stating, “Immediate action should be taken against these schools failing which disciplinary action will be taken against the officers from the department. “The unrecognised schools will have to pay Rs 10,000 per day if they continue to operate.
Several schools, according to the education department, do not register for approval under RTE or renew their approval to evade RTE admissions. Under RTE, 25 percent of the total seats are reserved for the socio-economically weaker sections of society. The schools are expected to provide free education to these children and claim reimbursement from central as well as state governments. Of the 674 schools on the list, 560 are primary and 114 are secondary schools.
Meanwhile, registration of schools for RTE admissions for the academic year 2023-24 has begun. As the process will be a centralised system, the registration of schools will go on until February 3. The office of the Director of Education which conducts the RTE admissions has issued a circular reiterating that it is mandatory for all eligible schools to register for RTE admission.