Free education scheme: over 92% seat’s vacant

Under the recently introduced scheme, as many as 381 “budget” private schools had offered 24,987 seats for EWS students of government schools for which the state will reimburse their fee of Rs 700/1,100 per student. Only 1,665 students from government schools have preferred to go to these private schools under the scheme which is just 6.6% of the total offered seats. The last date of admissions was July 27.

The admission in private schools was offered under “Chief Minister Equal Education Relief, Assistance and Grant (Cheerag)” scheme which has been introduced in place of a similar scheme launched by Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in 2007 under rule 134 A of Haryana School Education Rules, 2003.

Under the Cheerag scheme, students whose parents have annual verified income of less than Rs 1.8 lakh can take admission in private schools from Class II to XII. According to CM Manohar Lal Khattar, under this scheme the government will give Rs 700 per student from Classes II to V, Rs 900 per student from Classes VI to VIII and Rs 1,100 per student from Classes IX to XII.

However, official sources say only those schools participated in the scheme which have very low fee structure keeping in view the reimbursement offered by the government in lieu of the admissions.

An educationist said: “Good private schools, especially in towns, charge more than Rs 3,000 monthly per student. In these circumstances, only those private schools – from villages or small towns – came forward which wanted an assured fee from the government in lieu of admissions. On the other hand, the students from government schools were not keen to leave their existing schools just to get admission in any private school. Further, location of the private schools also matters especially when the students don’t have an offer of lucrative education.”

A government official said: “The students in government schools get almost free education apart from school dress, syllabus books, mid-day meal and scholarships for certain categories. So, students keep all these factors in mind before opting for the private schools in the neighbourhood.”

The official also said the Cheerag scheme may get a better response next year “as more private schools and students will come to know about the scheme”. However, Haryana Vidyalaya Adhyapak Sangh, a body of government schoolteachers, is not impressed with the Cheerag scheme and has already staged protests across the state opposing it.

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Former president of the sangh, Wazir Singh, said: “This scheme is aimed to close the government schools. If the students have the option to get admission in private schools free of cost, later or sooner they will prefer the private schools. In place of paying their fee to the private schools, the government should strengthen the infrastructure of government schools and fill the vacant posts of teachers.”

However, a senior officer of the education department said: “The scheme is optional; those who were willing to go to the private schools, they have gone. Those who wanted to stay in the government schools, they continued their studies there. The students might have limited options because they could go to only those schools which have offered the seats. If the students would like to continue in government school as compared to the private schools in their neighbourhood, it speaks well for the education department too.”