Most schools ignorant of the Act

Majority of the schools in the City remain ignorant about the Right to Education Act (RTE), just 15 days before the last day for economically backward students to submit application for the reserved seats.

Confusion on the part of the schools has left the future of economically backward students at stake.

Under RTE, May 25 is the last date for students of the economically weaker sections to apply for 25 per cent reservation seats.

At a time when schools should be busy preparing to meet the deadline, most schools either remain shut or completely unaware of such a requirement.

On being asked about the admission procedure for the RTE applicants, a staff of Oxford English High school in South Bangalore said he was ignorant about existence of such an Act.

“Even if such an Act exists, we have not received any notice about such a requirement. The school has hardly any seat left for admission for first standard,” he said.

The Department of Public Instruction, on May 7, had issued a notification regarding the number of seats per school and other details. However, most schools say that they have not received any notification or a government order regarding this.

Indira Nair, the principal of VET School, said: “The only communication we have received about the RTE has been through newspapers and not from the government.

We have only 8 to 10 seats left to be filled in the school, as opposed to 15 seats as required by the Act. Moreover, these available seats are open to public, not just to the RTE applicants,” she added.

Schools are required to be aware of the basic details and requirements, through the information available online. However, not many schools have collected information regarding the RTE.

Namitha Timmaya, Principal of the ICFAI Republic School said: “I personally collected the notification from the Cluster Resource Person (CRP). We will accommodate the students in our school as per the Act.”