For the first time, selection of children for admission to Class 1 in all the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools across the country, including admission for seats reserved under Right to Education (RTE) and other categories, will take place on Wednesday through random selection from all eligible applicants at one go with the help of a software.
Pointing out that the move was to bring fairness and transparency in the admission process and to avoid human intervention, P. Selvaraj, Principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1 in Narimedu here, said that all the KV schools had been brought under this system except those coming under ‘Project’ category.
“These are the schools functioning in places like Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Energy in Kalpakkam or Neyveli Lignite Corporation. Since the selection criteria for these schools are slightly different, they have been excluded this time. However, they are likely to be brought next year under this automated system,” he said.
Explaining the selection process, Mr. Selvaraj said that since parents were asked to apply only through online this year, all their data had already been uploaded to the centralised computer server of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
“For instance, there were 2400-plus applicants for Class 1 in our school, of which around 1000 were under RTE quota. Similarly, parents would have also entered all other details that are considered for the selection like their community, whether their kid is physically challenged, whether they are a State or Central government employee etc,” he said.
“All we have to do tomorrow is to click a button for every quota. For instance, if I click the button for RTE, the randomly-selected seniority list from one to 1000 will be generated. Since we have 40 of 160 seats (25 %), the first 40 will be from the list will be selected for admission, ” he said.
“Earlier the same was done manually through lottery system, which was time-consuming. Now, it happens within a minute,” he added.
He added that similar process would be followed for seats reserved under all categories, including SC, ST, physically challenged and general. “The children will thus be selected for all 160 seats and a notification will be immediately sent to their parents in their registered email and mobile numbers,” Mr. Selvaraj said.
He said that if an admitted candidate was found to have provided wrong information in the application during the admission process, the child next in seniority will be given the chance.
Though concerns have been raised by a section of parents regarding transparency, he assured that the system was foolproof with no room for admissions through favouritism or recommendations.
He said that LCD projectors had been set up in schools for parents to view the process and committees had also been set up, with applicants also as members, to ensure transparency.
