Even as the Education Department has advised schools not to start admissions before January, some in Bangalore have started the process more than a month in advance. The government, meanwhile, seems unsure how to view admissions made disregarding the admission calendar.
Though the Education Department issued a public notice in early October cautioning schools against starting admissions before January and warned that such admissions would be deemed “illegal and liable for cancellation”, private school managements have since been asking for relaxation in this rule. With the government yet to spell out its final decision, the status of the ongoing admissions is uncertain.
The managements’ demand has been that they should be allowed to start admissions for the rest of the seats, after keeping aside 25 per cent for children from disadvantaged families under the Right to Education Act quota. This demand is still pending before the government.
“They have given us a representation, but we have not taken an official decision on it yet,” Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri told The Hindu . This being the case, the admissions being currently made by the schools cannot be deemed valid, he added. Commissioner for Public Instruction S.R. Umashankar said that parents would be well-advised to remember that any admission made beyond the 75 per cent quota by any school is liable to be cancelled.
With the situation being uncertain, many parents who are aspiring to admit their children in private schools under the RTE quota are anxious. “We are receiving many calls from parents because schools have started the admission process. They want to know whether the department can ensure that their wards will not be denied admission saying that seats are filled,” said Nagasimha G. Rao, convener of the RTE Task Force. “We want the Karnataka State Child Rights’ Commission to take up this issue.”
L.R. Shivarame Gowda, president, Karnataka Private School Managements’ Joint Action Committee, said the government should provide clarifications on issues related to implementation of the RTE, including the admission process.
