School wrongly allots RTE seats beyond capacity

Instead of carrying over students from lower classes, SES Gurukul School assigns most of the seats; edu officer points at the blunder

The fight between a private school and education department, over allotment of Right to Education (RTE) seats, has stranded several parents as 25 per cent seats from the quota have been put on hold. After admitting 15 students to Class I at SES Gurukul School in Sinchan Nagar, the institution kept all the admissions on hold for the others, confirming the fact that they can admit only four more.

The first lottery round — wherein these admissions were allotted — took place on April 8. It took three more days for the documents to be verified. Since April 12, the other parents have been making rounds of the school, but to no avail. Frustrated, the lot has not approached the education officer with their complants.

Sagar Yevle, a parent whose son is to be admitted to Class I, said that they have been visiting the school for 15 days and yet the admission is not confirmed. “We have also approached Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) education officer with our problem. However, no confirmation has been received over that. The school has allowed us inside the campus only once and informed that we need to wait as the seats allotted have exceeded the capacity. But after that, they have not taken us in and the admission hangs in uncertainty,” he added.

Another parent, whose daughter secured admission to Class I, said that she too has been making rounds of the school and education office. “There is a problem with the seat allotment and it should be solved at the earliest. The last date of taking admission is May 6,” she added.

PMC education officer, Shivaji Daundkar, who is aware of this burgeoning issue, elaborated on what went wrong. He informed that the school erroneously enrolled students for 15 seats when they had nine, as the rest were to be carried forward from the lower classes of the institution. “The school is adamant that it will admit only five students and hence they have not confirmed any admission. It is the school’s mistake, therefore it should admit all the students who have been allotted the seats,” he said.

After the complaints poured in, the education officers sent two letters and also called the school for a hearing. However, there has been no response. “Thus, we have recommended Zilla Parishad to take appropriate action against the school for denying admission to students,” he added, while confirming that a similar situation had arisen at another school. A meeting had soon transpired and the school admitted all the students to whom it had allotted the seats. The numbers will be adjusted against next year’s allotments.

He added, “The problem could be solved easily, but the school is not ready to answer the letters that we have submitted.”

When contacted the school, there was no response from the principal.