Bengaluru: The question of what it actually costs the government to educate a child in a government school is now before the Karnataka High Court. In a move that could reshape how private schools are reimbursed for admitting children under the Right to Education quota, the court on Wednesday issued notices to both the Karnataka government and the Centre on a petition seeking a transparent national formula for calculating per-child expenditure.
Justice H.T. Narendra Prasad issued notice to the state government and an emergent notice to the Union government after hearing a writ petition filed by the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), the apex body representing thousands of private unaided schools across the state.
What the petition is asking for
The petition, filed through KAMS general secretary D Shashikumar, seeks directions to formulate, notify and implement national criteria for fixing per-child expenditure, or PCE, under Section 12(2) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, read with Rule 8 of the Karnataka RTE Rules, 2012.
The PCE is the cornerstone of the RTE reimbursement system. Under the Act, unaided private schools must reserve 25 percent of their seats for children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections. In return, the government is supposed to reimburse those schools an amount equal to what it spends per child in its own schools.
The petitioner told the court that the law mandates the government to notify the PCE every year before the academic year begins. Despite the academic year already being underway, Karnataka has not issued the notification for 2026-27, a delay the petition describes as a glaring violation of the Act and the Rules.
As an interim measure, KAMS has asked the court to direct the Commissioner for School Education to notify and implement the PCE for the 2026-27 academic year within a reasonable time, so that pending claims do not pile up further.
Rates stuck since 2017-18
The dispute centres on numbers that, according to the schools, have barely moved in almost a decade. The last genuine revision of the per-child expenditure rates was done for 2017-18, at Rs 16,000 a year for primary classes and Rs 8,000 for higher primary and nursery classes.
Since 2019, the association contends, subsequent notifications have simply repeated those same figures, with no increase, even as spending on teacher salaries, classroom infrastructure, learning materials, digital tools and welfare schemes has kept climbing.
KAMS argues that the government is working with a badly understated figure. The association claims the official calculation considered only five expenditure heads while leaving out more than fifty recurring components prescribed under the RTE Act and the Karnataka RTE Rules. Based on its own analysis of budget documents, finance accounts and the accountant general’s reports, KAMS estimates that the real per-child expenditure for 2026-27 should fall somewhere between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000, several times the notified rates.
It has also flagged that Rs 7 crore was recovered from schools following audit objections which the association says flowed from a wrong reading of the statutory provisions on per-child expenditure.
Schools say they are footing the bill
The most immediate grievance is about money that has not arrived at all. According to KAMS, reimbursement dues for the last two academic years remain unpaid, forcing thousands of schools to absorb the full cost of their RTE quota students.
For budget private schools, which mostly serve lower and middle-income families, this has become a survival question. With reimbursements far below actual costs and arrears unpaid, many schools are struggling to pay staff salaries on time, maintain buildings and invest in classrooms.
The association warns of a knock-on effect on parents too. When schools cannot recover the cost of the 25 percent quota seats, that deficit eventually gets passed on to the parents of the remaining 75 percent of students in the form of higher fees. Ironically, the schools say, it is the private institutions that then get accused of overcharging parents.
A national question, not just a Karnataka one
KAMS office-bearers have described the writ petition as a first-of-its-kind initiative seeking accountability from both the Union and state governments on how per-child expenditure is calculated. The Centre’s response has been sought on creating a transparent and auditable national methodology, so that reimbursements do not vary wildly or arbitrarily between states.
The association also wants the government to disclose the expenditure heads it uses, the calculation worksheets, enrolment data and the actual per-child expenditure for 2026-27, putting the numbers on record for scrutiny.
The court’s notice is only the first step in what could be a long legal battle, but it has already put the spotlight on a question that affects lakhs of students, thousands of schools and the credibility of the RTE promise itself: how much does it really cost to educate a child, and who should pay the difference?
For now, schools, parents and policymakers will all be watching how the two governments respond to the court’s notice in the coming weeks.
FAQs
What is per-child expenditure (PCE)?
Per-child expenditure is the amount the government calculates it spends on educating one child in a government school in a year. Under the RTE Act, private unaided schools that admit 25 percent of students under the quota are supposed to be reimbursed based on this figure.
Why did the Karnataka High Court issue notices in this case?
The court issued notices to the Karnataka government and the Centre after a private schools’ association argued that the government has failed to notify fresh per-child expenditure rates for 2026-27, violating the statutory duty to fix them annually.
What are the current reimbursement rates?
The last rates were notified for 2017-18 at Rs 16,000 per child a year for primary classes and Rs 8,000 for higher primary and nursery classes. The schools’ association says these have not been genuinely revised since.
How does this affect parents?
If schools are under-reimbursed for their 25 percent RTE quota seats, the shortfall can lead to higher fees for the remaining fee-paying students, so the dispute has a direct bearing on school fee trends.
What happens next?
The state and Union governments will have to respond to the court’s notices. An interim prayer also asks the court to direct the Commissioner for School Education to notify the 2026-27 per-child expenditure within a reasonable time.
This is a developing story and will be updated as the case progresses.
