971 seats allotted in district under RTE, says DC

A total of 971 seats have been allotted in the private non-aided schools in the district in the second phase under Right to Education Act, said Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim.

Speaking at the review and grievance redress meeting regarding the allocation of RTE seats at the DC’s court hall recently, he said that 172 private schools come under the ambit of RTE in the district. “As many as 2,274 seats are available for allocation under the act. A total of 3,398 applications have been received and in the first phase, 1,864 seats have been allocated through lottery system and out of them, 791 applications have been accepted after the scrutiny by the Block Education Officer,” the DC said.

He added that 1,073 applications have been rejected as the candidates had furnished false information and for applying for schools out of the jurisdiction. These applications will be considered for selection in the second phase of the seat allocation, he said.

“In rural areas, a distance of one kilometre is considered as nearby while in urban areas, the nearby area is considered by ward limits. City municipal councils and town municipal councils have been considered as units, for allocation of seats,” Ibrahim explained.

Parents of students, who were present during the meet, urged the DC to redefine the limit for ‘neighbouring distance’ by extending it in rural areas, as they are smaller compared to the distance between schools in urban areas.

Up to 102 linguistics and caste-based minority schools have been recognised in the district and these schools do not come under the RTE, the deputy commissioner said.

AICC member P V Mohan and advocate Dinesh Uleppadi, who were present during the meeting, said that the minority status of such schools is questionable and asked for an examination of the genuineness of the minority certificates of these schools.

The DCdirected the block education officer to take action against schools collecting additional fees.

Zilla Panchayat CEO P I Srividya and DDPI Walter D’Mello were present among others.