Congress retains Raje government’s lower RTE income limit

JAIPUR: Congress, which had opposed previous Vasundhara Raje government's move of reducing income limit for RTE admissions, has followed the same income cap for the admissions under the Act.
BJP had reduced the income limit from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 1 lakh in 2016 and Congress had termed the move unjust for the low-income families. Sources said that the income cap would reduce the applications so the financial burden on the cash-strapped education department.
TOI called education minister Govind Singh Dotasara but got no response.The Congress had argued that reducing the income cap would hamper the number of beneficiaries during the BJP rule and called it a conspiracy against the low-income families. They, however, followed all the norms of the BJP government.
Experts said that the income cap of Rs 1 lakh at a time when government has granted reservation to those earning Rs 8 lakh and granted them 10% reservation. “This is mockery of the entire RTE act which is meant for economically weaker sections also. The criteria of Rs 1 lakh will provide relief to a minuscule section of the society," said Pranjal Singh, head of the Abhyuttnam Society, working for the education of underprivileged.
The RTE Act mandates that every private school has to admit 25% students from economically weaker and marginalized groups. The rough estimates say that state has 2.5 lakh seats under the quota in over 33,500 private schools across the state. The minorities institutes have been exempted from granting this quota.
Singh added that BJP government had not able to fill all seats due to narrowing of the income cap. “Last year, the total number seats filled were 1.25 lakh against 2.5 lakh seats. This year again the number is expected to remain the same,” said Singh, who alarmed that this move will force the families to make false income certificate.