Parents baffled by Illegal schools on RTE admission list

Confusion prevails even on Day Two

Confusion prevailed even on Day Two of the online submission of applications for school admissions under the Right To Education (RTE) quota as even those schools declared unauthorised by the Department of Public Instruction surfaced in the list of schools from which parents could choose from.

On Monday, the second day of submission of applications online, parents were left with a question mark with respect to selection of schools. The department had recently declared 1,286 schools illegal. Now, however, parents said that the names of these illegal schools continue to exist on the list of schools from which they could select.

According to child rights activist, Nagasimha G Rao, parents who spent hours at the cyber cafes had to return as they were not sure if they could apply in these schools. There are a few schools in Basaveshwaranagar, Kamakshipalya and other areas in the City that exist in both the lists.

 “Parents are a worried lot as they fear action might be taken against them later,” he added.

Online glitches
This was just one of the problems that parents had to come across while filling the application form online. They also claimed that they had difficulties in selecting schools. “After we filled the application, we were unable to select the school.

Either the server would crash or the list would not be displayed,” complained one of the parents. Also, parents were confused as the ‘Inside the Ward’ or ‘Outside’ option was not mentioned, they said.

One of the parents said when he could not fill the application online, he thought he could seek help from the office of the Block Education Officer (BEO).

“I went to Rajajinagar BEO office and said I would apply directly as the online process did not happen. I was sent back stating that the only way to apply was online,” he grieved. Such was the case even in Gandhinagar, Lingarajpuram and Mahalakshmi Layout areas, according to Rao.

Parents confused
Suresh Kumar, another parent, said while he was told that he had a choice of 15 schools where his child could be admitted under the RTE quota, names of just 13 schools came up on the list from which he could choose. “There is no description about whether the above mentioned schools are primary schools or high schools. This has left us confused,” he added.

Mohammed Mohsin, Commissioner, department of Public Instruction, could not be reached for comments.