Registration of students commences today

Ongole: Allotment of 25 per cent seats in unaided schools to children from poor families, one of the main provisions under the Right to Education Act, is realised at last after years of waiting. Following the issue of GO MS No 24 and the High Court's interim order on the plea by management of unaided schools, parents of poor families now got the chance to admit their wards to some of the best schools through the lottery.

As per the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, private schools should give admission in at least 25 per cent of the seats in them to eligible children from disadvantaged groups and economically weaker sections. The Government of Andhra Pradesh issued GO MS No 24 on February 26, providing a platform for the admissions into Class I, and announced a schedule for allotment of seats in all private unaided schools following the IB, ICSE, CBSE and state syllabus, for the academic year 2023-24.

The GO also specifies that in the 25 per cent of the seats earmarked under the RTE Act, five per cent will be given to children from the orphan, HIV-affected and disabled groups, 10 per cent to SCs, four per cent from STs, and 6 per cent to economically weaker sections from BCs, minorities and OCs.

For the implementation of the RTE Act, the government fixed the per child expenditure for all classes per annum in all private unaided schools following various syllabi as Rs 8,000 in the urban areas, Rs 6,500 in rural areas and Rs 5,100 in the tribal and scheduled areas.

As 100 per cent of these students are getting covered under the Amma Vodi, the government said that the fee reimbursement to the schools will be done by the parent from the benefit of the scheme. If they fail to do so, the student will not be eligible for the scheme in the next year, and the fees will be paid by the government, it assured.

The Independent Schools Management Association and United Private Educational Institutions Federation knocked on the door of the High Court and urged it to direct the government to pay the fees to them directly. The government continued the admission schedule, and the private schools completed their registration on the website for allocating 25 per cent of seats.

Prakasam district education officer P Ramesh said that 359 of the total 366 private management schools in the district are registered on the website. He said that there will be around 2,800 to 3,000 seats for Class I students in the schools for offering to children from disadvantaged groups and economically weaker sections. He asked the parents of these children to register their details at the link provided on https://cse.ap.gov.in from March 22 to April 10, for allotment of seats through lottery.