School managements allege that the numbers were not authentic, and most of the schools have not registered.
The deadline for school registrations under the reserved quota for the Economically-Weaker Section (EWS), as mandated under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, has again been extended in Pune district, from January 25 to 30.
However, delay in the registration process, which means an eventual delay in RTE admission process, isn’t the only thing worrying activists. Activists and school managements have alleged that “registrations are being done forcibly and, in some cases, without the consent of schools”.
For example, last year, in Pune district, as many as 15,693 RTE seats were available across 865 schools. This year, till January 22, less than half the number of schools had registered, as the number stood at 6,196 seats across 325 schools. However, in barely four days, the number shot up to 14,139 seats in 768 schools by January 26.
School managements alleged that the numbers were not authentic, and most of the schools have not registered.
Rajendra Singh, secretary of the Independent English Schools Association (IESA), said, “The education department has retrieved the data from last year and updated it in the online system.
The data is not authentic, as some of the schools may have shut this year or their entry point may have changed and the numbers may not match. However, the bigger issue is that even if admissions are allotted… the schools who have boycotted the process will not give admissions till all dues are cleared. This would lead to chaos and friction between parents, activists and schools at the time of admissions.
The parents will blame schools for refusing admissions…” School organisations, too, claimed that the numbers have shot up because the education department updated the data on its own. Sunil Chauhan, primary education director, and Sharad Gosavi, deputy director of education (primary), could not be reached for a comment.
A senior official in the education department has confirmed that the data was taken from the National Informatics Centre, while the data from the schools that had boycotted the process was filled by education department staffers. “In Pune district, the maximum number of unregistered schools were under Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation — about 43 — along with a few schools in Akurdi, Haveli taluka, for which we filled in data based on last year’s information.
However, unregistered schools made for less than 100, all the others registered on their own,” the official added. Asked why the total number of seats were fewer this year, they said, “Some of the schools have acquired minority status and are no longer liable for RTE admissions.”
Activists, meanwhile, said they saw no fault in the education department acquiring data from last year to complete registrations. “However, we hope this does not lead to denial of admissions by schools,” they added.
RTE activist Mukund Kirdat said, “It is not wrong to use last year’s data because schools cannot keep changing their entry points as per convenience. By that logic, if a school had 100 EWS seats last year, it will have the same number of seats this year too. However, the last year’s data may not reflect names of the schools that have shut down since.
Meanwhile, private school managements have moved the court and refused to give admissions, claiming that they have not received reimbursements. But, these allegations, too, were made just before the admission process was about to begin. This, obviously, was done to put pressure on parents. If schools refuse admissions, students and parents will suffer.”