Special Correspondent
Pune : Jagruti Dharmadhikari, President of the Independent English Schools Association (IESA) and Vice President of the Maharashtra State Educational Institutions Corporation, has issued a stern warning to the state government. She stated that if the pending Right to Education (RTE) fee reimbursement is not processed within 15 days, schools may be forced to cancel admissions of RTE students and surrender their school leaving and other academic certificates.
Addressing a joint press conference held by IESA and the Maharashtra State Education Institutions Corporation, Dharmadhikari revealed that the Education Department has retroactively applied new regulations for RTE reimbursements. As a result, nearly 50% of schools in Pune district have been deemed ineligible to receive reimbursement — despite being approved to admit students under the RTE Act.
“These schools have met the criteria for RTE admissions but are suddenly being excluded from reimbursement. We suspect vested interests behind this move. In fact, we have received complaints from 17 schools alleging that certain officials from the Education Departments of Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune Zilla Parishad have demanded bribes,” Dharmadhikari alleged.
A list identifying 452 schools with discrepancies in reimbursement claims was recently released by the Pune Zilla Parishad’s Education Department, leading to widespread frustration among affected institutions.
Dharmadhikari criticized the inconsistent behavior of education authorities: “These same schools that are allowed to admit students under RTE are later denied rightful reimbursement through baseless justifications. School managements are forced to submit both online and offline documents multiple times, yet they are unfairly discredited.”
She added that despite teaching RTE students for the entire academic year, schools are now at risk of financial collapse due to the non-payment of government dues. “According to a court ruling, schools are within their rights to expel RTE students if reimbursement is not received. We do not want to take such steps, but if the Education Department fails to act, we will have no choice but to hand over the students’ certificates to the authorities,” she said.
Dharmadhikari emphasized that the crisis has already led to the closure of some schools, while others face imminent shutdown. IESA plans to take the matter to the Education Commissioner, the Minister of Education, the Deputy Chief Minister, and Pune’s Guardian Minister in hopes of securing an urgent resolution.
