CHENNAI: More than 150 elementary and matriculation schools in the city have not admitted a single student in the current academic year under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which mandates reservation of 25 percent seats for the socio-economically under-privileged. The latest data of Tamil Nadu Directorate of Matriculation Schools brings out this startling revelation.
The data indicates that elementary schools in the state have filled less than 50 percent of the seats under the RTE quota in 2015-16. Matriculation schools fared better with 63.56 percent seats being filled. (See box)
In Chennai out of the 304 matriculation and 289 elementary schools, 60 matriculation schools and 97 elementary schools have failed to admit even a single student under the RTE quota. Surprisingly, the data also reveals at a few matriculation schools the entry level intake of students itself was nil. A cursory glance of the figures clearly shows that many schools in the state have failed to admit even a single student under the RTE quota in the current academic year.
“Why have these seats not been filled? Have these schools not displayed any boards outside their premises calling for admissions under the RTE or were the people in the area not aware?” were the questions raised by prominent education activist PB Prince Gajendra Babu, who called for strict action against these schools.
On the issue of some schools showing zero intake, he wondered if the data was verified before being made public. “Some big schools have shown only 30 seats as their intake capacity at Lower Kindergarten (LKG) level. One wonders if they have furnished data for only one section,” he said.
Speaking to Express, Directorate of Matriculation Schools R Pitchai said showcause notice would be issued to schools which have failed to admit students under the RTE. “The notice shall be sent very soon,” he added.
last month, Madras High Court had directed the school education department to display the seats available and filled under the RTE quota on its website. Following this, the data was made public on Thursday.