Infra at GPs may be used for rural RTE admissions

Nagpur: The education department has suggested involving local bodies in rural areas to ensure awareness among parents regarding free admissions in private schools under Right To Education (RTE) Act quota. This year, all RTE admissions are being done online due to which concerns are being raised by social activists on how rural residents will benefit. Keeping this in mind, earlier this week, the deputy director of education (DDE Nagpur) office had asked its officials to spread awareness about the facilities made available at gram panchayats (GPs) for completing the admission formalities.
Anil Pardhi, DDE Nagpur, wrote to the district’s primary education office on April 13 informing that there’s already an existing committee at GP level headed by sarpanch. “This committee can be very helpful when it comes to online admissions under RTE and parents in villages can benefit. All requisite infrastructure like computer, Internet, scanner and printer are available with every GP which can be used for completion of the online process. You are requested to pass on all relevant information to this committee that is needed for filling online admission forms,” wrote Pardhi.
NGO RTE Action Committee had brought the issue to DDE’s notice and had suggested using existing system formed under child welfare committee (CWC). The NGO’s founder Shahid Sharif said, “It is a genuine concern because a lot of parents in rural areas won’t have access to Internet or scanners. There has to be someone who guides them through the entire process and ensures that they complete the application properly. CWC has presence through a committee right at the GP level and this is a great starting point.”
The online RTE admission process has got delayed by almost three weeks now because persistent technical snags. As of now, only Chandrapur, Wardha and Gondia districts (under Nagpur division) have started online admissions. The entire process is controlled from Pune, which is the headquarters of the education department.
The entire process has been divided in three phases. In the first phase, all schools coming under the ambit of RTE admissions have to register online. After these schools feed data regarding the total number of seats, the software automatically allocates 25% of it for RTE quota.
In the second phase, parents can start submitting online admission forms stating their school of choice. The software automatically chooses schools that are within a 1 km radius of the applicant’s residence and offers them as option to parents. Multiple choices are allowed and parents can rank the schools in order of preference. All relevant documents have to be scanned and attached along with the online form. The third phase is where the online lottery is conducted and schools allotted to children.
Online process for Ngp dist to start from April 18
RTE admissions in Nagpur district will start from April 18, the deputy director of education (Nagpur division) Anil Pardhi informed media late night on Saturday. Parents can start applying online from April 18 and this process will continue till April 27. Along with Nagpur, Bhandara and Chandrapur districts will also start the admission process.