BHUBANESWAR: An inquiry has been initiated by the Khurda district administration following allegations over violation of Right to Education (RTE) Act by private schools in giving admission to students from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.
Recently, 10 private schools in the city were accused of not adhering to section 12 (1)(c) of the RTE Act under which, they 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), by the members of Odisha Parents Federation.
Sources said the district education officer of Khurda has constituted two teams of four officials each to inquire into the allegations and submit reports based on which, corrective measures will be taken. They have been instructed to submit detailed reports by April 12 to the Khurda collector.
The schools have been accused of denying admission to students who were 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 continued till April 6. Second phase registration of students will begin from April 10.
The parents had 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.
However, the 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.