How reservation in private schools isn't working for poor children

Social discrimination, illegal demands for tuition, activity fees, and non-reimbursement of the expenditure incurred by private schools that join the programme are the factors that hobble RTE system

It was Sharadchandra Kale’s dream to get his six-year-old daughter into grade I at a neighbourhood private school this year. The 33-year-old scheduled caste labourer from west Mumbai suburb Andheri had applied under Right To Education (RTE) Section 12(1)(c) that guarantees 25% reservation in non-minority private unaided schools to children from poor and socially disadvantaged homes.

Kale’s daughter did get a seat in the Andheri school but the experience has left him bitter. “I felt like I was being treated like a second-class citizen. They spoke in English which