41 seats promised in RTE, 21 admitted

Bengaluru: A private school in Rajajinagar informed parents that 41 children will be admitted to the school under the RTE quota, but in reality, took just 21. The affected parents have complained to the Education Department. The school is claiming that the misunderstanding is due to an error in the software of the Department of Public Instruction. The matter has now been taken up by the RTE task force.

On April 26, parents submitted the documents required for the admission of their children into Class 1 in the school. They were told that they would be informed over the phone about the admission. But, the mistake was, when the school had 21 seats, it sent messages to 41 parents. The last date for admission was May 5.

Shivalinga is one of the parents who wanted to admit their children in the school. He received a message that the seat was confirmed and he submitted the required documents. “Later we learnt the school had made two lists; those in the first would be admitted and the rest would have to go to other schools. This school was closest to our house. We have not applied elsewhere and classes will start from May 25. The education department has asked us to wait for some more days,” he said.

The RTE task force has brought the issue to the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Abdul Wajid Khaji, said that the block education officer (BEO) was sent to the school to look into the matter. But, the BEO said that the matter should be checked in the Commissioner’s office, denying his involvement in the matter.