Nagpur to implement a centralised system of admission for students under RTE Act

Updated on: Monday, December 03, 2012

After being credited with securing the first admission under the Right To Education Act (RTE), the city could yet again be a trendsetter in implementing the law. Major city schools and the local education department have reached an 'in-principle consensus' to put in place a common admission process (CAP) for inducting students under the 25% free seat quota.

The two sides discussed the game changing idea in a meeting with state's top education bureaucrat JS Saharia on Saturday.

The state education secretary urged officials and school principals to discuss the proposal and chalk out the details. Saturday's meeting on implementing RTE was attended by principals of all major CBSE schools along with those affiliated to CISCE and the state board.

Deputy director of education Mahesh Karajgaonkar said, "I gave a suggestion to implement CAP on the lines of junior college admissions in the city. Having a centralised admission centre will be beneficial for both schools and parents as it will reduce paper work. After the assembly session, the department will hold another meeting with schools."

Nagpur Sahodaya Schools Complex chairperson Annapoorni Shastri said, "The CAP idea is very good and I hope we can work it out. The schools face a lot of problems while selecting students for the 25% free quota, particularly with regard to verification of documents submitted by parents. If we admit a student and a year down the line find out that the documents submitted by his parents are fake then the government won't reimburse the fee to us."

Shastri took great pains in verifying documents submitted by parents seeking admissions for their wards under the 25% quota. "I sent my staff to the applicants' residences to check their economic status and also verify the distance from the school. We ended up spending money to get the basic checks done," she said.

Many parents who failed to get admission in the general quota, later tried to sneak in their children under the RTE quota by producing bogus income certificates and documents. Since the schools already had the documents previously submitted by parents, they could figure out which of the applications were fake.

"A centralised system will act a checkpoint to ensure that only those eligible under the law get the benefit," said Karajgaonkar. Earlier this year, schools in the city had implemented a common date plan in which the admission process was conducted concurrently across the city. The new CAP proposal will push the current system further and make it more transparent. Saharia too appreciated the efforts being taken by city schools in implementing RTE.

Nagpur to implement a centralised system of admission for students under RTE Act

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