Say ‘no’ to admission, cite age factor

K. Ananthalakshmi, the wife of a daily wager from Madurai, who applied for her son’s school admission under the Right to Education Act through the online system introduced by Tamil Nadu government this year, was glad when her son got shortlisted through the “lottery” system in a school in Railway Colony here.

However, she was surprised when the school denied admission citing that her five-year-old son was overage for LKG. “I told them that I did not want my son to be admitted in LKG but in Class 1. They refused contending that RTE admissions were only for LKG,” she said.

The experience of Ms. Ananthalakshmi, who has not admitted her child in any school yet, is not an isolated incident. Activists allege that many schools denied admission to UKG and Class 1 by citing the guidelines issued for online applications for RTE admissions by Tamil Nadu, which said that the procedure was for ‘entry-level’ classes.

“In almost all the privately-run schools, the entry level is LKG. However, a majority of the people from socio-economically backward communities do not generally send their children to kindergarten. Instead they prefer to admit them directly in Class 1 when they turn five,” pointed out K. Hakkim, a Right to Information Act activist from Madurai.

R. Rajasekaran, an activist from Madurai, who tried to admit a destitute girl faced a similar situation when she got short-listed in a private school in Thathaneri. “The seats reserved under the RTE Act were vacant in the school for UKG. However, they refused to admit her,” he said. K. Pandiarajan from Dindigul, who had the same experience for his daughter’s admission, pointed out that the online application introduced by the State government did not provide any option for choosing the Class.

“However, since my daughter was five years old, I was confident that she will get admission for Class 1, which according to me is entry-level class where schooling begins,” he said.

Activist alleges violation

Mr. Hakkim said that though the schools took refuge in the ‘entry-level’ clause, their denial of admission was in violation of the RTE Act, which says that free and compulsory education must be given for children aged under 14. When contacted, T. Udhayachandran, Secretary of the School Education Department, said such issues would be sorted out in the second round of RTE admissions the government was planning.

“We have just completed the first round. We are planning another round of admissions during Vijayadasami since admissions can be made under the RTE Act till six months after the beginning of school year,” he said.