The draw of lot for children applied for seats reserved under Right to Education (RTE) Act will take place in all the schools in Madurai district along with other districts in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Officials in the School Education Department said that a total of 6,520 applications had been received in the district through the online portal, introduced for the first time this year. Citing a statement issued by the department, they said that of the 79,842 applications received through the portal across Tamil Nadu, Madurai had one of the highest number of applications.
A total of 3,238 seats in nursery and primary schools and 2,369 seats in matriculation schools were available in kindergarten and Class 1 across the district as per the 25 % seats received under RTE act, officials said.
According to them, of all these schools, applications had been received for kindergarten and Class 1 in 292 nursery and primary schools and 154 matriculation schools.
They, however, added that draw of lot will happen only in 148 nursery and primary schools and 145 matriculation schools since the number of applications received in other schools was less than the number of seats received under RTE Act, thereby ruling out the need for a lot.
The School Education Department has also given instructions on how the lot should be drawn. Sources said that an official from the School Education Department and another official from revenue administration will be deputed to every school on Wednesday to monitor the drawing of lot.
The drawing of lot will be happen in the presence of parents and children. The first round will happen for those applied under special categories like physically challenged children and children of conservancy workers. It will be followed by the drawing of lot for those applicants residing within a kilometre of the school and finally for those residing outside one km radius.
In every school, five children in excess of available seats will be chosen in the lot. They will be accommodated if any of the selected candidates fail to take the admission, official said.
While welcoming the online system introduced to improve transparency in RTE admissions, a number of parents complained lack of communication.
K. Hakkim, who is following the application for his relative, said that there had been no intimation from the schools or the School Education Department regarding the drawing of lot. “I approached the school in which I had applied on Tuesday evening. They had no information,” he alleged.
When contacted, N. Marimuthu, Chief Educational Officer, Madurai, said that the applications were being downloaded and despatched to respective schools since Tuesday evening.
“On Wednesday, applicants will receive calls from schools mentioning them the time of drawing the lot. The parents can go to the school at that time,” he said.
