CHENNAI: Following in the footsteps of Maharashtra and New Delhi, the Tamil Nadu government has opened online counters for Right To Education (RTE) applications. The move comes in the backdrop of repeated complaints from parents over opaqueness in RTE admission process, particularly in private schools.
According to the RTE Act, 25 per cent of seats for admission at entry level classes are reserved for students from weaker section and disadvantaged group. It was the responsibility of the government to reimburse their tuition fees.
However, School Education Department officials noted too many discrepancies in number of seats made available under this quota and students admitted.
The demand for making this entire process online gained momentum when several schools denied application forms last year citing delay in reimbursement of fees for previous years as the reason.
In an attempt to streamline the process, the State government on Monday announced that RTE applications would be available online ( through a link to the School Education Department’s official website https://tnschools.gov.in/).
Necessary arrangements were made in all district education offices apart from 10,000 government e-seva centres across the State, said an official release, adding that confirmation would be sent by SMS to the registered mobile numbers of the parents to avoid confusion.
The release clarified that the practice of submitting applications personally at the school and publishing of results in notice boards will continue alongside the online process.
According to the Tamil Nadu RTE Rules, every school is expected to update the total number of RTE seats available in their website apart from their notice boards on April 25 and interested candidates can start applying from April 15. If eligible applicants outnumbered the intake capacity, random selection will be made on May 23 and final list should be out the next day.
The School Education Department has reiterated that only those residing in one-km radius of the school can apply for LKG or Class I admissions.