BHUBANESWAR: Parents of students selected for admission to private schools in the state capital under Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota have alleged violation of Right to Education (RTE) Act by the institutions.
Members of Odisha Parents Federation on Thursday alleged 10 city-based schools are denying admission to students who have been selected under EWS quota by the School and Mass Education department. The students had applied for admission through RTE Paradarshi portal of the department and were allotted schools in the first phase of admission through a lottery system on March 22. The first round of admission started from March 27 and would continue till April 6.
In a letter to block education officer (BEO), Bhubaneswar, the parents stated the director of elementary education had drawn up the list of students for admission to Class I through lottery and sent it to the BEO. The BEO had forwarded the letter to all schools and the students were supposed to take admission after April 2.
At least 10 schools refused admission on the ground that they had not received the BEO’s letter and some also cited they did not have seats this year for admission to Class I. This year, 17,235 students from EWS background were allotted seats in the first round of admission in 3,331 private schools which have a sanctioned 30,429 RTE seats. As many as 28,343 students had applied for admissions.
Under section 12 (1)(c) of RTE Act, private schools must reserve 25 per cent of their seats for children belonging to economically weaker sections from the neighbourhood (within 5 km radius of the school). Of this, 10 per cent is reserved for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students, 10 per cent for children from BPL families and five per cent for children without a home.
With the last date of admission being April 6, the parents said that the reluctance on the part of the schools will further delay the process and hamper the education of the students. Head of the federation Prasanna Bisoi said some of these schools are denying the admission because they have not been paid students’ fees for EWS quota admissions by the state government for the last few years. They have also approached the chief minister’s office and director of elementary education in this regard.