Nagpur: The online admission/selection process for Std XI and Right to Education (
RTE) has come under fire from activists citing the various technical issues cropping up. The Std XI common admission process (CAP) ran into technical glitches last month and there was controversy related to the allocation matrix of minority college seats.
For RTE’s online lottery software, the biggest problems that came to fore were connected with distance mapping. NGO RTE Action Committee has filed a complaint with the education department and is even mulling legal action.
Shahid Sharif, the NGO’s founder, said, “The distance mapping is done through Google maps with the applicant placing the marker balloon at their residence, after which the software calculates the distance to school. But the balloon’s placing is not happening properly and causing major chaos during admissions.”
He added that even the Std XI CAP software is facing multiple glitches. “In the bifocal round itself, which was the first one, names of a few colleges did not reflect in the software’s database. Due to this, these colleges lost out in the initial round,” said Sharif.
An education department employee, however, did not agree with the assessment. “The balloon placing is done by the applicant and it’s working perfectly well. Had there been a problem with the distance marking, then all admissions would have run into trouble. It’s clear that the parent or whoever is applying on their behalf is placing the marker incorrectly. Sometimes it is done to get more schools within its ambit,” said the official who did not wish to be identified.
The software is maintained by National Informatics Centre (NIC) from Pune, which also hosts the education department’s HQ. Sharif said, “There is not even a single person from NIC based in Nagpur and that’s why all complaints fall on deaf ears. We will demand that at least one person from NIC be stationed in Nagpur to solve problems.”
