Admission procedure notified under RTE rules

Expenditure per child fixed at Rs 11,848 for primary schools this year

The State government on Thursday notified the procedure for admi­s­sion of children to unaided schools under the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012 framed under the Right to Education Act.

The rules stipulate admission of 25 per cent of children from disadvantaged and weaker sections to these schools, without charging any fees from Class 1 or pre-school.

Each school has to notify the block education officer (BEO) so as to calculate the availability of seats under the quota, school -wise, and notify it to the parent teacher associations and community through public display.

The BEO will give out a calendar of events, which will begin in January of the year from 2012-13. The dates announced this year will be applicable only for 2012-13.

The heads of schools only have to receive the filled in application forms along with the documents which will have to be passed on to the BEO.

The verification of the documents and the application will be the responsibility of the BEO. Eligible students and their parents will have to be present at the school on the day of the admission.

After receiving the applications, schools need to notify the dates for selection of the applicants to the BEO office and also display it on the school notice board. The filled in applications along with the documents have to be accepted by the school, without any verification.

If they are incomplete, they have to be returned along with a written note, specifying reasons to applicants. The applications of neighbourhood students and non-neighbourhood students will be dealt with separately.

On the day of selection, the BEO will either appear personally or appoint a nominee to observe the process. From within the neighbourhood applications, 7.5 per cent will be reserved for Scheduled Castes and 1.5 per cent for Scheduled Tribes.

The remaining 16 per cent shall be provided to disadvantaged and weaker sections within the neighbourhood. If sufficient number of applications from the SC category have not been received then the school can fill the available seats with ST children and vice-versa.

If the seats still remain vacant, the circular has provided the management the authority to fill candidates from other reserved categories. The vacant seats, if any, after these allotments, can be filled by choosing applicants from outside the neighbourhood.

After selecting the candidates all details and documents will be submitted to the BEO office, which will then confirm the selection before March 31 (except for the current academic year). No mention has been made by the State government over the allotment of seats under RTE, if there are excess applications for consideration under the free quota.

The total expenditure per child will be determined by the school and submitted to the BEO along with evidence to support the expenditure. The managements have been asked to divide the total annual expenditure by the total number of students, both free and payment quota, to arrive at per child expenditure.

The government has stated that the reimbursement will be made on the basis of the allocation made per child towards the education or the fee collected from a student, whichever is less.

The government will declare the per child expenditure on or before May 30 of every year. For the present year, the State has notified a ceiling of Rs 11,848 per student per annum.

In the case of students being admitted at the pre-school level, the ceiling has been placed at Rs 5,924 per annum. The rules applicable for Class I will also be applicable  for the admissions made at pre-primary level.

Circular to aided schools

With the framing of admission guidelines to non-minority unaided schools in the State, the Education Department has issued circulars to aided institutions to calculate the number of the free quota seats.

In case excess number of applications are received by the aided schools for the reserved categories of SC and ST, the Department has directed draw of lots to ensure that there is no bias in admission.

The Department has barred the admission based on first-come-first-serve basis for applications under RTE.