Under the campaign for a disturbance-free education zone on Wednesday, Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) has urged the Manipur government to reserve 25 per cent of the total seats for marginalized students in all private schools in the state under the Right to Education Act.
The protest by the Coordinating Committee on Disturbance Free Educational Zone Demand was staged in front of Standard Robarth Higher Secondary School. Students formed human chains with placards and slogans demanding implementation of RTE Act at private schools, to make educational institutions free from any form of interventions including corruption and violence and also to ensure conducive atmosphere at all educational institutions.
During the campaign of Coordinating Committee on Disturbance Free Educational Zone Demand, president of DESAM, Leishangthem Lamyanba said that enrolment in government schools has come down to just 26-13% in the state of Manipur as per report by ASER.
According to the ASER report, Manipur has the highest ranked enrolment of students in private schools then the government schools.
It shows the total failure of the government schools in providing quality education and thus, many parents and guardians, irrespective of the economic conditions today, prefer private schools, he said.
As per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, all private schools should provide free and compulsory education to 25% of the total seats to poor and marginalized students, Lamyanba said. He said that the government should implement the RTE provision to provide free education to the poor students in all private schools from this current session as government schools have failed.
It may be mentioned that, the RTE provisions for ensuring free education to 25% students of the total seats, among others, has not been implemented in the state of Manipur.
