Bengaluru: The department of school education and literacy started an inquiry into an alleged fraud where private schools were given reimbursement money for the Right to Education (RTE) quota when they hadn’t actually admitted as many students.

The RTE Act, 2009, had a provision for children from economically weaker sections to get admitted to private schools. Twenty-five per cent of seats in private schools were to be set apart for that. The govt was to reimburse the fees for these students. Soon, the govt, realising that this was a white elephant, amended the law. Students could take admission into the RTE quota only if a govt school did not exist in the neighbourhood.

However, an incident was reported from Bengaluru, where the education department officials reimbursed money to 15 schools in Bengaluru north from the same trust, which did not have as many students as they reported under the RTE quota. The schools belong to GK Naidu Trust, said minister Madhu Bangarappa in a written response to a question in the legislative council on Aug 11.

The response also said an inquiry was initiated, and Jagadish, who was the RTE co-ordinator and nodal officer for Bengaluru north district, was suspended pending inquiry. The department is also initiating recovery of the excess amount paid to these schools.