Demand for RTE Quota Doubled Among Urban Poor Parents

BANGALORE: In an era like today where education has become an indispensable part of our life, India is still lagging behind in providing quality education to its children. However, most of the urban poor parents realize the ardent need of educating their children for the betterment of their lives. As such, the demand for seats under RTE quota has considerably crossed 3.6 lakh this year from 1.4 lakh-odd applications in the previous year, reports Suresh Puduvettu of DNA.

More that 2,00 schools comes under the ambit of RTE with around 27,000 seats available for children belonging to weaker sections, alone in the garden city Bangalore.

Like the increased number of applications, even complaints from parents whose children were rejected seats by neighborhood private schools, too have increased. On a daily basis, there is a recorded complaint of over 15 from the parents.

Umesh Aradhya, chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights said, “We have been sorting out complaints regarding the selection process, and answering queries from parents,” reports DNA.

With the rising demand, the children are selected for the seats based on lottery and the process has proved to be tedious work. So, the RTE guidelines direct that the lottery be executed in the presence of the parents and officials to maintain transparency.

 “But, as per the complaints lodged by parents with the RTE Task Force and the Child Rights Commission, it is learnt that the majority of the schools did not invite parents during the lottery,” said Nagasimha of Child Rights Trust, an NGO.

It is mainly the process of selection through lottery that has encouraged and enticed many parents to apply in a number of schools for their child through RTE. Under this law, a child is eligible for admission under RTE in nearby schools, i.e., schools within the radius of one km.

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