NEW DELHI: Free education is turning out to be expensive for many students admitted in private schools in the EWS (economically weaker section) category. Pehladpur resident and daily-wager Mukesh Kumar makes less than Rs. 6,000 in a month but had to pay Rs 12,000 to cover the cost of books and uniform for his grand-daughter, starting school this year. Tuition is free but in many private-unaided schools, books and uniform are not. Neither are computer classes, school picnics or large prints of class photos. The tertiary costs of a private education has driven several families to withdraw their kids from better-known private schools (with their expensive activities) and placing them in smaller or, like Rajiv Camp-resident Anita, in government schools.
Half-a-dozen Rajiv Camp kids have moved from a popular private school in Vivek Vihar to smaller private schools where books and uniform are cheaper. "They had started charging for computer classes and kept increasing the amount," says Anita. "We had to spend Rs 3,000 on uniform, a jacket alone was worth Rs 600. Kids in that age grow fast and if someone has more than one kid, they can't afford it," says Munita Yadav, mother of six. The kids' fathers work in cable-manufacturing making about Rs 6,000 in a month, Rs 8,000 in a good one. Books alone can set them back by Rs 7,000 -- "We have to buy the full set. We can't say we don't want something," says Kismat Devi. The women have formed a common fund they can draw loans from to help them meet school expenses. The private school stopped charging for computer classes after NGO Pardarshita complained. Kumar, already neck-deep in debt, may have to pay Rs1,050 monthly for bus service; another parent, Shyam Yadav, has been asked to pay Rs. 800 in a month for food.
While private-unaided schools have been directed under the RTE rules to provide books and uniform to EWS-category students, few do. Private school associations have been wrangling with the government over the reimbursements allowed to them. The Delhi government allows Rs 1,190 or the amount a school spends on a child - whichever is less - per child. Private-unaided schools argue that the amount does not cover books and uniform. The children, on their part, are generally samajhdar. They opt out of innumerable excursions and picnics with good grace though their parents try to find the money for some of those trips. "If they go out, they'll see and learn new things," says Munita.
A recent amendment to the notification on EWS admissions (made after education department decided on standardizing reservation at 15% of all new admissions after Class 1 under in schools that received land cheap from the government) hasn't helped either. It says, "Expenditure on account of uniform and books...shall be reimbursed by education department and disbursed through the head of the school." "Earlier, only EWS students admitted under the land deed clause received reimbursement cheques from the government. The reimbursement for the 25% EWS quota introduced by the RTE Act 2009, went to the school. But due to this change in the notification, many private schools are refusing to give uniforms and books," says social jurist Khagesh Jha.
"We've spent Rs 3,000 on books," says Sunita who admitted her son into Class 1 at a school in Mahindra Park this year. "And the school has told us to arrange for the uniform ourselves. If computer classes are introduced later on, we'll have to pay for that as well. I don't see much difference from regular private schooling," she added.
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