No clue yet on admissions under RTE quota for 2016-17

 Parents seeking seats under the RTE quota for the academic year 2016-17, will have to wait longer this year as the status of implementation of the Act is still undecided.

The Education department officials said they were yet to get updates on when the admission process would begin and they were still awaiting a meeting with the minister in this regard.

The state government had earlier requested the Ministry of Human Resources Development to look into possibility of diverting the funds being used for RTE reimbursements to government schools, so that the infrastructure in the State schools could be developed. So far, the state government is said to have spent about Rs 500 crore on RTE reimbursements for about four lakh students. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar said the implementation would be based on the Centre's decision.

“The New Education Policy will be out by January. We will have to wait till then.” However, he added that they had already begun preparations and were not waiting until the last minute. “If we have to go ahead with the admissions, we will look into setting right some of the lacunae in the reservation provision,” he said.

In a letter written to the HRD Minister, Ratnakar has also proposed that even pre-primary classes be included in free and compulsory education. “Once students join private schools they are unlikely to come back to government schools. Hence, it would be better to include even kindergarten classes under the free and compulsory education system.”  
Meanwhile, parents aspiring for seats for their children are on the tenterhooks. By December end last year, the Education department had already prepared a list of all the neighbourhood schools.

Making the best of the situation, some “volunteers” are promising seats and collecting money from parents. These volunteers are asking anywhere up to Rs 5,000 per seat. Recently, Shivkumar, a resident of Frazer Town, faced one such situation. He had applied for a seat for his child last year and could not secure admissions.

He is hoping to secure a seat for his child this year at least.
“In Pulikeshinagar and DJ Halli, people have already been collecting money claiming themselves as representatives.They claim to be part of students’ organisations. They asked my friend for Rs 5,000 with Rs 500 as advance to guarantee us a seat. He called to share the details with me. Thankfully we did not pay and we alerted the RTE Task Force,” he narrated.