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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

25% RTE quota: Getting the poor into private schools-Anahita Mukherji
-The Economic Times

One of the most heartwarming films of 2011 centred on a child labourer who fitted in exceedingly well with his wealthier classmates at school. While a nasty teacher drives the child out of school in the celluloid imagining, in real life, a nasty education system threatens to drive such kids from the country's elite schools. 

Among the most jarring arguments against a clause in the Right to Education (RTE) Act - which calls for a 25% reservation in private schools for children from disadvantaged groups and economically-weaker sections of society - is that such children will feel out of place in elite schools. 

It's a trifle touching that concern for the poor is the reason the rich don't want them in their schools. The misgivings aren't entirely unfounded; some elite schools do a sterling job of making even the upper-middle-class lot feel deprived. 

But simply because some schools do a miserable job of social integration isn't reason enough for all schools to do so. The arguments against RTE make it sound as if rich and poor children have never shared a classroom bench before. This is untrue. A small but significant number of private schools opened their doors to the poor long before the RTE. 

Holy Family School, Mumbai, where the aforementioned film was shot, has children from both rich and poor families. Mahindra United World College, a coveted IB school on the outskirts of Pune, admits children from the surrounding villages, who rub shoulders with students from around the world. 

Loreto Sealdah is a study in social integration: 50% of children are from wealthy background and 50% are from poor families and don't pay fees. Activity School at Pedder Road, among Mumbai's poshest locales, has always included children of the school sweepers, gardeners and office staff, who fit in quite well with children from better-off families. 

While such schools may be an oasis in the desert, they are visible proof that if a school wants to integrate poor children into an elite classroom, it can certainly do so. 

While working out reservations for disadvantaged children at private schools, a figure of 25% was arrived at keeping in mind that such children need to form a critical mass of the total number in class in order to feel at home. 

According to the 2001 census, Scheduled Castes constitute 16.2% and Scheduled Tribes 8.2% of the population. Together, this works out to 24.4%. Further, the Tendulkar Commission on poverty estimates 37.2% of the population below the poverty line. Both economic and social deprivation was considered while arriving at the figure of 25%. 

Many feel the policy will also greatly benefit rich children. Call it a sort of reality check. While wealthy children have, for long, collected money for 'the poor', sharing a bench at school with 'the poor' will be an altogether different experience and will surely help them put their own lives in perspective. 

One of the arguments against RTE is that it has shifted the burden of educating the poor from the government to the private sector. This is untrue. RTE's budget of 2.31 lakh crore over five years is largely meant to upgrade teaching and infrastructure at government schools. 

It would be foolish to imagine that 25% reservation for the poor in Class I each year will shift the state's responsibility to the private sector. 

The elite have rarely taken to the streets to protest the decline of government education. All these years, while a section of the private sector has profiteered from the education industry, the elite have never pressured the government to reclaim the education sector. 

But suddenly, when the private sector is asked to lend a helping hand with the enormous task of universalising education, the elite suddenly believe the government alone is responsible for education. That several private schools avail of highly-subsidised infrastructure is itself reason enough for them to pay back their debt to society. 

The government will reimburse schools as per the cost of educating a child in a government school. Sixty-five per cent of private schools charge less than or equal to the per-child cost at a government school. Of the remaining 35%, the schools most affected are those that charge the highest fee. 

Many such schools are run by the country's wealthiest corporates, which can very well use their corporate social responsibility towards the worthy goal of educating the poor.