As per the Right to Education Act 2009, the students in Jammu and Kashmir are entitled to free and compulsory education up to elementary level in government schools. As per the act, which came into effect in J&K from October 2019, “all the (education) expenditures of students up to class 8th will be borne by the school education department and no student will be charged any amount on account of exams or other related activities”.
“The school heads have been informed that no student shall be charged any amount at the time of admission in any class and no printing charge will be collected from them,” Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Muhammad Younis Malik said.
He said that the new RTE Act was applicable from last academic year but there was no clarity among school heads about charging of fee and printing charge from students.
“But from the commencement of new academic session in government schools, no student enrolled will be charged any amount,” he said.
Earlier, the students were charged admission fee at the rate of around Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 besides the printing charge at the time of annual exams.
“If any school has charged any amount from students it has to be given back to students. Charging any amount from students in government schools is against the rules of RTE Act,” he said.
The government has already barred the private schools from charging any capitation fee.
However, complaints are still pouring in against scores of school who are charging admission fee from parents in violation of RTE Act.