During the Bihar state Assembly session on 28 February CPIML MLA Manoj Manzil called the attention of the House to Section 12 (1) (C) of the Right to Education Act 2009. He pointed out that most registered private schools are violating this Act. MLAs Mahboob Alam and Ajit Kumar Singh also questioned the government during the debate on this calling attention notice.
Comrade Manoj Manzil said that under Section 12 (1) (C) of the Right to Education Act 2009, 25% seats are reserved for children from economically and socially backward classes in all registered private schools in the state. This provides an opportunity for children of poor, downtrodden, backward, minority communities living near these schools to receive quality education, the objective being that children from rich and poor families and from various castes can study, live and eat together for at least 8 years of their lives, thereby reducing divisions in society.
According to the UDISE report of 2019-20 there are 5644 registered private schools in the state, and if even 50 children are enrolled per school, a total of 282500 children can be enrolled. But in many schools in the state including DAV School, Jean Paul School, DK Carmel School and Mount Litera School in Ara (Bhojpur) and Open Mind School, Birla School, Saint Xavier School and Notre Dame School in Patna children from rich families are being given the benefit of this facility under the name of poor children, which is an attack on the constitutional right to education of poor children.
If the government is serious about this law and wants to implement it properly, it should make regulations for its implementation and establish a monitoring system for the enrolment process on the lines of the Delhi and Tamil Nadu governments.
During the Lok Samvad program on 11 June 2018 the the Chief Minister had directed state officials to conduct a survey of such schools and students studying in them on June 11, 2018. The report of that survey should be published by the government.
