Parents, activists protest against SSA manual in RTE schools

Several parents and activists under the umbrella of the RTE Task Force staged a protest on Monday to raise their voice against the SSA manual, which, they claim is outdated, and being misused by unaided schools, to discriminate against students under the RTE quota.

 The manual states that schools can charge students (who have secured free admission under the RTE quota) extra fees for books and uniforms.

If the schools have not included this expense as part of their total fee structure, the government will reimburse the same.

Contents against rules
The contents of the manual are against the Right to Education rules, the parents said and demanded that the Education department rectify the error and take action against schools charging extra money from parents.

“Education department officials have agreed to hold a meeting with the parents and RTE Task Force members on August 19. If they fail to rectify the error we will go on a hunger strike and intensify our protests,” Nagasimha G Rao, member of the Task Force told Deccan Herald.