Shimla: Private Schools in Himachal were directed to reserve 25 per cent of seats for children from economically weak and deprived sections of society.
Secretary Education Dr Abhishek Jain, chaired a meeting with the stakeholders to discuss in length the provisions of the Right to Education Act, here on Monday and promised to ensure strict compliance of the provision of the Act.
Director of Higher Education Dr Amarjit Sharma, Director Elementary Education Ghanshyam Sharma and Principals of various private schools and their representatives attended the meeting.
The Right to Education Act provides the right to free and compulsory elementary education to children in the age group of 6-14 years so that no child is deprived of it. And as per the Act, the private schools should have to ensure the filling of 25 per cent of reserved seats for children from economically weak and deprived sections of society.
Dr. Jain also sought information about the current academic session fee waive-off, of those children, who have lost both their parents or were dependent on a single parent because of the COVID pandemic. Private schools were also informed about the compliance of the instructions for waiving the fee off for such children.
Directions were issued to the schools to regularly organize parent-teacher meetings besides, meetings of various school committees formulated for road safety, anti-drug etc. Meetings should also be conducted at regular intervals to ensure the physical, mental and moral well-being of the students, said he, adding that the schools should also evolve innovative strategies to make students aware of the ill effects of drugs.
