Educational and Social Inclusion of Children Admitted Under RTE Quota: A Survey of Private Schools of Bhopal

Abstract

Status of growth and development of a society is measured by various social indices which depend on upon the equitable opportunities provided by the government in the form of access, participation, and transformation. Surveys in the last one decade, present to us glaring inequalities in social-economic and educational indicators of different socio-religious groups. Whenever policies and programmes do not benefit citizens, the government makes special provisions so that it would benefit them. The Right to Education Act (RTE) and within it 25% Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota was one such major intervention. The provision of 25% quota for EWS and disadvantaged children is mentioned in the RTE act section 12(1) (C). Thus, section 12(1)(C) of the RTE acts as a level-playing field for the children who were not able to afford quality education being offered in private schools. In Madhya Pradesh (MP), the RTE act came into effect from 2011. Bhopal the capital of MP had 2258 recognized schools and merely 223 have been covered under the RTE quota. Around 8162 EWS and disadvantaged students are studying in age appropriate classes. The present study was a small project work carried out in 10 schools of Bhopal (urban) covered under the RTE quota. The results indicated that though there is a social and educational inclusion of children in private schools but as per teachers' the ride is not a smooth one based on the responses of the students. Moreover, teachers still have a biased and unfavourable attitude towards these children. The gravity of the problem is not as big in the elite schools as they are not offering the EWS quota.