Cadre of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) are creating awareness in the district about the quota provided in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act.
The legislation mandates all private schools to reserve 25 per cent of their seats to “children belonging to weaker sections and socially disadvantaged groups.”
‘Weaker sections’ has been defined to include students whose parents have an annual income of less than Rs. 2 lakh.
Socially disadvantaged groups included students from listed communities, orphans, HIV affected children, transgenders, differently-abled children, children belonging to BCs, MBCs, SC/ST and children of conservancy workers.
Posters
According to V. Eswaran, the secretary of the MDMK youth wing, there was a lack of awareness about this quota in many areas of the district. The cadre have put up posters in the Karamadai East Union providing details of the Act.
At least 30 members in the locality contacted the party cadre, who helped them get applications for the quota seats. While initially the applications were issued only in May, the last date had been extended to for schools that were yet to fill the 25 per cent of seats under the quota.
However, he said that no receipt was being issued by the education department officials who receive the forms. Further, the officials were also not providing any information on when the students would be called for admissions.
He urged the School Education Department to provide clear details on the process. The applications would be issued till June 20 at the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) office at Raja Street between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Parents could apply for admissions to L.K.G., class I or class VI.
