Private schools will have to do their bit to operationalise the Fundamental Right to Education (RTE). As per a new legislation — being prepared by the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to operationalise the six-year-old Fundamental Right — private schools will have to reserve a quarter of their seats at the entry level for children from disadvantaged sections in the neighbourhood. The government will reimburse these schools on the basis of what it spends for a student. However, schools that have received some kind of concession from the government — such as land free-of-cost or at concessional rates — will not be entitled to this reimbursement. Though a similar proposal had met with stiff resistance when it was first mooted by the National Democratic Alliance, the government has clarified that reserving a quarter of the seats in a private school for disadvantaged students from the neighbourhood is a goal that it seeks to achieve in 10 years. In the first year of opera