As the online admission process to private unaided schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act quota commenced on Sunday evening, a technical glitch has surfaced which could potentially rob children of a chance to study in their neighbourhood school.
Several anxious parents were in for a shock after they could not find any private unaided schools in their wards.
The online process, in some instances, does not allow parents to apply for schools in the neighbouring wards. Though there is an option for submitting applications in schools, the school managements will also have to use the same software to upload them online.
This problem, activists fear, could result in keeping several children out of the RTE quota in the State.
After the online process had a delayed start, many parents took the help of volunteers of the RTE Parents and Students’ Association-run helpline to fill in the application form, but in vain.
In several instances, parents said, the portal displayed the message ‘No private unaided schools exist for selected medium and class in your residing ward/revenue village’.
A random check by The Hindu on the portal showed that there were no schools for LKG admissions in localities such as J.C. Nagar, Kammagondanahalli, Dasarahalli, Hottappanapalya and Kodigehalli Colony, which have a large number of people from lower socio-economic background.
However, Education Department officials said the message may have popped up as the block education officers concerned may not have tagged schools in the adjoining wards. Though a senior official said if a ward did not have any private school, parents could apply in adjoining wards, the portal did not have this option.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights H.R. Umesh Aradhya said there were several challenges as officials had developed the system without understanding the ground realities.
