Sarika

More than half the seats allotted for admission under the Right To Education (RTE) Act for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and the district pre-primary schools remain woefully vacant, despite the district education department conducting five rounds of admission last month. Now, a sixth round of weeklong admissions has begun from Saturday in a bid to fill up those seats.Mushtaq Shaikh, a district education officer in charge of RTE admissions, told Pune Mirror, “There are 781 schools from Pune city, district and Pimpari-Chinchwad areas, with a total intake capacity of 16,826. Out of these, only 8,222 seats have been filled. So, 236 pre-primary schools have had zero admission, with 8,604 seats still vacant. During the first five rounds, as many as 20,581students had been allotted seats, for parents used different mobile numbers to apply to different schools. So, in several instances, the same child got a seat at three different schools, increasing the number of applicants.”Shaikh pointed out that the main reason behind 50 per cent vacant seats for RTE admission was a lack of awareness among parents. “In the district level, people don’t have basic internet facilities for RTE’s online form fill-ups. Most of the schools are from the city and the district. The recently opened schools do not have a publicity procedure in place regarding RTE admissions in their respective areas. Besides, most of the schools refuse to give admission under RTE. After the completion of the five rounds, we got several complaints against 10 to 15 pre-primary schools from the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad, which were refusing RTE admissions. We will send a report to the state government to cancel the approval of the guilty schools. We have got an order from state education department to run another special RTE admission round to fill the vacant seats from October 8-15, after which we will declare the date of lottery,” he explained.State director of primary education Govind Nandede seconded Shaikh’s opinion, saying, “Most parents apply for the renowned schools, which is why the 236 newly-opened schools from the city and district have clocked zero admission. We are now monitoring this special admission round and appeal to all the parents who don’t get admission for their wards till today to take advantage of this round. This time, we will take strong action against the preprimary schools that refuse to give admission under RTE as it is mandatory.” Dinkar Temkar, the deputy divisional director of Pune region, added, “The online form filling procedure will be completed by October 15. On October 16, we will declare the date of lottery. This will be the last admission round for this year and will be a relief for parents who missed out on earlier rounds.”But disgruntled parents had their own grievances to share. Vikram Gaikwad, a resident of Sus, Gaothan, rued, “There are so many loopholes in the RTE admission process. I applied for my two sons, Sambuddha and Rishabh, at The Orchid School and Vidyanchal School in March, but the first round began in May. Despite five rounds, my sons did not get admission. Most of the schools from Pimpari- Chinchwad demand money for stationery, school uniforms and shoes, which they are not supposed to. Thankfully, the education department has decided to run a special round to fill vacant seats.”Ozarkar, another parent, added, “I live in Mann gaothan, but most parents here don’t know about the RTE admission. That’s why most of the schools from the district haven’t had a single application. The state government or zilla parishad should conduct awareness programmes at the district level for this and also provide internet facilities in mobile vans so that rural folk can avail of the RTE opportunity.”An RTE activist and member of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Mukund Kirdat, couldn’t agree more. “Owing to lack of awareness about the RTE Act, the suburban and district pre-primary schools don’t have a single admission. The basic infrastructure for RTE’s online form filling is the internet and a scanner, which the education department should provide. According to the RTE Act, local bodies like the zilla parishad and the municipal corporation are responsible for implementing the Act in their jurisdictions. They should run RTE campaigns. The special RTE round will definitely help parents of rural and suburban areas to secure seats for their wards,” he stressed.