MP Private Schools Await ₹800 Crore RTE Dues For 2 Years; Financial Pressure Mounts

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Private schools in Madhya Pradesh have been awaiting around Rs 800 crore in reimbursement under the Right to Education (RTE) Act for the academic years 2024-25 and 2025-26, with the payment still pending with the state government.

Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, the Centre and the state share school education funding in a 60:40 ratio in Madhya Pradesh and other states.

While the Centre releases its share to the states, the state government is responsible for reimbursing RTE fees to private schools.

The delay has put financial pressure on private schools, particularly smaller institutions that have a substantial number of children admitted under the RTE quota.

Schools bearing cost without any reimbursement

Under the RTE Act, private unaided schools are required to reserve at least 25% of entry-level seats for children from disadvantaged and weaker sections.

Private school representatives said the delay is becoming difficult to sustain as schools continue to provide education to RTE students without collecting fees from their families.

According to Kanhaiyalal Rathore, an average private school may have 30-40 RTE students, while smaller schools in rural areas can have 50-70 such students.

The delay in payments has also reduced the number of schools being covered under the reimbursement process. There are a total of 20,000 schools affiliated with RTE in the state.

School Edu Dept approached Finance Department

Representatives of private schools recently raised the issue with school education secretary Harjinder Singh, who told the association that the department had approached the Finance Department for release of the pending amount.

According to the association, the secretary assured them that the schools would be paid as soon as funds are released. In the coming days, the private school organisation will also sit on hunger strike and march to CM house.

Govt data shows reimbursement burden

Government data shows the scale of the reimbursement burden. In its 2024-25 Project Approval Board document, the Union Education Ministry recorded that Madhya Pradesh had reimbursed Rs 404.34 crore to 20,892 private unaided schools for 7.09 lakh children under the RTE fee reimbursement component.

The state government said that around 19 lakh children had benefited from the scheme since its implementation in 2011-12 and that more than Rs 3,000 crore had been reimbursed to schools during this period.