In the light of a flurry of address changes in Aadhaar in two wards in the city, as parents were eligible to apply to private schools only in these wards, the Department of Public Instruction has decided to reject many of these applications.
Speaking at a press conference, M.T. Reju, Commissioner for Public Instruction said all address change requests in Aadhaar received after March 15 when the application process for RTE quota seats began, have been rejected. He said this was done as it was difficult to check the veracity of the claims made by parents.
The Hindu had reported that Ganesh Mandir and Girinagar in Bengaluru have suddenly become the most sought-after addresses as these are the only wards in BBMP limits where parents are eligible to apply for seats in unaided schools under the RTE quota.
This development took place after the State government amended the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education rules.
The move has not gone down well among the parents. “Many parents have changed their homes as they wanted to be eligible to apply for RTE quota seats. While we do agree that some parents have applied change in Aadhaar only to fudge the details, genuine parents who have relocated to these wards have been denied this opportunity,” said Nagasimha G. Rao, convener of the RTE task force.
Ward number 165 — Ganesh Mandir — has 10 private unaided schools, three of which have LKG as the entry point while the remaining are for class one. In ward number 162 — Girinagar — parents can apply to 17 schools, 10 of which offer LKG.
A total of 1,836 applications were rejected for various reasons. This includes those who have applied for change in addresses in their Aadhaar card.