CHENNAI: Digitising the application process under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, will significantly boost the number of successful admissions for the coming year, estimate School Education department officials. According to data released by the department, around 1.19 lakh students have applied under the Act until 6 pm on Saturday - the last day for applications.
While less than two-thirds of the applicants ultimately landed a seat last year, introducing Global Information System (GIS) mapping in combination with digital applications, has drastically simplified matching students with the right school, said a department senior official.
According to Tamil Nadu RTE rules, 25 per cent of the total seats in private schools are reserved for students belonging to economically weaker sections (families with an annual income of less than Rs 2 lakh) and disadvantaged groups (SC/ST/BC/MBC). The students will be admitted at entry level grades, ie LKG or class one.
The schools in which the students are applying for RTE admissions should be within one kilometre from their residence. If a school does not get enough students to fill the admissions under RTE, then they can fill the vacancies by selecting students from nearby areas. A total of 1.21 lakh seats are available under RTE Act this academic year, the official said.
“Once the applicant plugs in their address, the GIS mapping programme enlists all schools in the 1.5 km radius from their residence. By narrowing the schools that students apply to, we will be reducing the number of rejections based on distance between home and school,” the official explained. Popular schools in an area, receive large numbers of applications from students who may even live farther than one km. Private schools often cite this as a reason to reject a candidate, if the student does not fit in the criteria under RTE law. Less popular schools, even though they may have more vacancies under the RTE Act, may not have received enough applications.
“Geographically restricting the neighbourhood schools a student can apply to, the chance of that student getting admission under the Act increases,” the official said. If more number of students have applied for RTE admissions than the number of seats in the schools, then the admissions will be made through draw of lots in the presence of officials of the School Education Department by the end of May.
However, an increase in enrolment of students under the Act will lead to decrease in enrolment in government schools. Last academic year, the admissions into class one in government primary schools had reduced by about 10 per cent. As against 3.23 lakh students who were admitted in academic year 2017-18, less than three lakh students were admitted last year.