Don’t surrender RTE seats: Karnataka Upalokayukta

BENGALURU: Upalokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi has directed the Commissioner for Public Instruction to allot seats to eligible children from weaker sections in private schools under the RTE. He has told them to do this instead of surrendering vacant seats to the schools.

Following several complaints regarding the allocation of seats under RTE, an enquiry was held and the Commissioner gave an assurance  that preference would be given to the children selected under the online process and not to others.

“The Department of Public Instruction (DPI), based on the online system, allotted seats to the eligible children under RTE quota. However, there were still several grievances and complaints about irregularities in preparation of the online list itself.

Several parents complained about certain schools not admitting their children despite online allotment of seats. In this regard, directions were issued to DPI to take action against  schools which have failed to admit  children despite allotment of seats,” a press statement said.

In this regard, the Commissioner had reserved seats for those selected online in other schools and some appear to have been allotted. The whole process of selection is done online and through a lottery system. However, there were several other complaints alleging irregularities in the online system and as a result, many eligible children were not selected. Since the process of online selection has already been completed and it is not possible to change it now, even after completion,  seats in some schools are remaining vacant under the RTE quota. According to the DPI, these seats will be surrendered to the respective schools.

The release said, “There are several parents whose children were not selected online but are eligible as many of them belong to the weaker section of society and are not in a position to pay fees in private schools. They are eager to admit their children to such schools.  Hence, if such seats are surrendered to the schools, it would be a denial of the legitimate rights of the parents to get their children admitted under RTE.  Such surrender is a waste of the RTE quota and defeats its purpose.

Therefore, such unfilled seats under RTE quota should be allotted to eligible children at the BEO level through lottery, which will benefit at least some children,” Mr. Adi declared. “This selection should be based on economic criteria and would be only for those who could not get admission online, though they were eligible -- and not those who have already got their children admitted.

“Accordingly, the respective BEOs should be directed to prepare a list of vacant seats in their jurisdiction and based on the number of eligible children, the seats could be allotted to the children by means of the lottery system. An ‘action taken’ report should be submitted on June 25,” Mr. Adi concluded in his order.