Online applications under the Right to Education (RTE) Act opened up at the midnight of April 20 and the first application was received by the education department as early as 12.48 a.m. from a parent in East Tambaram.
At 7.50 p.m. on day 1 of the process, the School Education Department had received 1,246 applications.
Speaking to The Hindu, School Education Secretary T. Udhayachandran said the department had gone ahead with initiating an online process for RTE admissions to bring in more transparency. “We had previously heard reports about a few schools refusing to admit students under the RTE and through this process, there will be fewer roadblocks for parents. While schools are allowed to issue RTE forms, they have been instructed to upload the details online as well or send the forms to the education offices in their area,” Mr. Udhayachandran said.
Chennai education district received the highest number of RTE applications from parents, followed by Tiruvallur and Salem education districts.
A parent filling in the RTE form online can view the seats available and select the schools in their respective areas. Parents who apply are then sent a confirmation with an SMS once the form has been submitted.
e-seva centres
While the department has only partly taken applications online, parents can approach the e-seva centres in their districts or can seek help from the District Education Offices to submit forms in case they don’t have access to computers. The online counters for RTE applications will be open till May 18. With a number of private schools taking their admission process online, the move to shift RTE admissions online was welcomed by educationalists as it would streamline the process. Earlier this month, the education department had announced that it was taking the process partly online and had published the list of schools and seats available online as well.
“If there are educational districts which receive more applications than the number of seats available, the Education Department will arrange for lots to be picked. This will not be online, but will be done manually in front of the parents and children to ensure that they are aware of the process,” Mr. Udhayachandran said.
