No clue yet on RTE admissions as deadline ends

Lack of communication from officials of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) with regard to admissions under the Right to Education Act (RTE) has left parents an anxious lot.

DPI officials are still in the process of compiling a list of schools in every district, even as they have overshot the deadline.

As per the schedule fixed by the  DPI, the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPIs) were supposed to upload on to the district websites a list of all schools in their districts by December 12.

Once the DDPIs upload the list, the Block Education Officers (BEOs) can start preparing a list of seats available in every school. The deadline for the same is January 12, 2015. According to Commissioner for Public Instruction Mohammed Mohsin, a review meeting to discuss the progress in the admission process will be held on December 15 (Monday).

“There has been some delay as we had to finish the verification of schools as well. The list will be uploaded on to the district websites in two or three days,” he said, adding that the issue of illegal schools would also be discussed in the meeting. Recently, several schools were found functioning without adequate permission. Hence, the department had promised to compile a list of these schools and upload it on the website. Parents are anxious as they have little or no information about the admission process.

RTE Task Force member Nagasimha G Rao said the Task Force was receiving at least 20 calls every day from parents seeking information. “The department should have issued a manual by now about the admission procedure. They have to start help centres to train parents regarding online admissions,” he said. Parents have no clarity on what exactly the online admissions will entail - whether the entire process would be online or whether only the applications were available online. Further, in spite of complaints, the department is yet to upload the addresses of the BEO offices.

Meanwhile, DDPIs said they were compiling school lists and it would be ready soon. DDPI (Bengaluru Rural) K  M Gururaj said, “With regard to some schools, the name has figured in the lists of two neighbourhoods. That has to be changed. We will do it in two days.”
In Shivamogga, the list was nearly ready and the officials would be uploading it on Monday, said DDPI T Narayana Gowda.

“We are cross-checking the number of schools. Except for minor discrepancy in the number of schools, there is no problem,” he said.