The names of students admitted to schools under the RTE quota, along with information on parents and their address, will go online in the coming academic year and made accessible to the public. This, the Department of Primary and Secondary Education says, will ensure transparency and streamline the admission process.
Ajay Seth, Principal Secretary of the department, said that information being in public domain will help people complain about any misuse of quota.
Only two IDs
In another major decision, the department has said that parents can apply using only Aadhaar or voter’s identity card. Mr. Seth said this would ensure that the address is authentic and duplicates are weeded out. Last year, over 1.31 lakh applications were found to be duplicate.
RTE Students’ and Parents’ Association general secretary B.N. Yogananda welcomed the move on putting out information on the net, as it would bring about transparency. “However, there is a need for the department to ensure that children do not get discriminated with their identity being revealed,” he warned.
This year, students are eligible to apply for seats for their children only if the school falls in their ward. Last year, the department during admissions had “tweaked” the process and allowed parents to file applications in neighbouring wards as well.
Nagasimha G. Rao, convenor of the RTE Task Force, urged the department to announce the calendar of events at the earliest as it had created anxiety among parents.
Goof-ups in online process last year
Of 3.89 lakh applications received, 1.31 lakh were rejected as parents had filed multiple applications
Some children were allotted seats twice
Dept. revised maximum age limit and increased it by three months after the allotment for first round was completed
Children were allotted seats in schools that were closed or already filled
Many schools claimed self-styled minority status after students were allotted seats. They refused to admit children
While the first three rounds were conducted online, fourth round was conducted offline at the block level
