Maharashtra, home to Savitribai Phule, a pioneer in Indian education who faced physical asolute. This stance was presented to the Bombay High Court as part of the state’s defense of a new rule that aimed to dilute the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Although the court overturned the rule, the effects of its implementation may already be causing issues.
In February, Maharashtra introduced a rule exempting private unaided schools from the RTE Act’s requirement to admit 25% of students from poor backgrounds free of charge if a government school was within 1 kilometer of the private school. This new regulation was challenged, and the Bombay High Court temporarily stayed its enforcement.
By the time the court declared the rule unconstitutional in late July, the new school term had begun, and private schools had already filled the 25% quota with paying students. Despite the legal challenge, many schools filled these spots quickly, possibly due to the government’s failure to reimburse the fees for economically disadvantaged students as required by the RTE Act. Maharashtra’s government owes schools Rs 2,400 crore in RTE fees since 2017.
The court’s order required private schools to maintain the 25% quota for poor students, even if it meant increasing class sizes. However, some schools now use this ruling as a reason not to admit poor students, citing that classroom sizes cannot be adjusted without CBSE approval, and the application deadline has passed.
This raises questions about whether the CBSE’s procedural rules are being used to circumvent a court order or if private schools are simply unwilling to admit underprivileged students.
Since the RTE Act became law, private unaided schools have consistently challenged it. In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Act, referencing the Directive Principle of universal free education. Maharashtra’s attempt to exempt schools from these obligations follows similar moves in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka. While Karnataka’s exemption was upheld, Maharashtra’s approach did not seem to benefit from the experiences of other states, suggesting a continued effort to limit educational access for the most disadvantaged.
Last year, Maharashtra further attempted to restrict RTE admissions by requiring Aadhaar cards, despite the Union government’s lack of such a mandate. This effort to exclude the most vulnerable from education has been evident since Devendra Fadnavis’s first term as Chief Minister. In 2017, Fadnavis proposed closing schools with fewer than 10 students, attributing the low attendance to poor education quality. However, he later admitted that these schools were financially unviable.
The plan to replace these schools with ‘cluster schools’ has not fully materialized, and many students, particularly girls in remote and tribal areas, have been forced to drop out. The first cluster school only opened last year and has not yet attracted all the students it was meant to.
Given these challenges, it seems unlikely that the government will ensure all eligible students receive admission under the RTE Act this year. Activists will likely need to continue their efforts to fight for the educational rights of the most vulnerable children.