Chandigarh, Sept. 18 -- Days after the Punjab government issued admission guidelines under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, complaints have been filed with the school education authorities in districts against private unaided schools not granting admission to children from economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups. The complaints have been submitted by non-governmental organisations and parents to district education officers as per the provisions of the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued last month by the school education department to streamline the admission process. The complainants are seeking directions to private schools to admit children under Section 12(1)(c) of the Act and action for violation of the law. The Act mandates private unaided schools to reserve at least 25% seats in Class 1 for children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in the neighbourhood, and provide them free and compulsory elementary education until completion. The SOP, issued on August 14, outlines school applicability criteria, student eligibility, category-wise seat reservations, neighbourhood mapping, and fee reimbursement norms for such admissions. The Action Committee for the RTE Act, Punjab, in its complaint to the district education officer (elementary education) of Mohali, submitted a list of 16 children seeking admission to pre-nursery, nursery, LKG, and Class 1 in private schools in the district, as per the admission criteria declared by the school education department. "Despite being eligible and having applied for admission, these children have not been granted admission by private schools. The denial of admission is a direct violation of the RTE Act and the binding guidelines notified by the state government," said the NGO, which has been actively pursuing implementation of the law. Similar complaints against private schools have been sent to the district education officers of several other districts. According to the SOP, the DEO (elementary education) is the designated grievance redressal authority for such complaints. A child's family in Gurdaspur said they submitted an application to a private school in their neighbourhood for admission, but were asked to first get a letter from the district education officer. "We went to the DEO's office and were told that they were in communication with their department," the parent said on condition of anonymity. Social activist Onkar Nath said that he had written to the Punjab State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (PSCPCR), seeking to secure RTE admissions. The commission advised that the matter be taken up with the designated authority. Dr Jagjit Singh Dhuri, president of the federation of private schools and associations, recently wrote to the state government regarding reimbursement for admissions under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act to self-financed schools. He urged that per-child expenditure be calculated by dividing the total annual recurring expenditure incurred on elementary education by the total number of children enrolled in government schools. He pointed out that the schools, mandated to admit students under the RTE quota, incur additional expenses such as electricity bills, campus rent, and maintenance, which are not factored into the government's per-child expenditure. Section 12(2) of the RTE Act requires the government to reimburse private schools for reserving 25% of their entry-level seats for children from EWS and disadvantaged groups....