Student gets RTE seat in three schools

Nagpur: Members of RTE admissions verification committee were shocked to notice that a student had secured admission in three schools, something which is impossible considering only one application is allowed per student. Shockingly, the parents created three applications using separate dates of birth to hitch a free ride using RTE quota.
Even the RTE software failed in detecting similar entries in the name and address column. In all three applications, parents’ name, child’s name, address, caste category etc were absolutely the same. The only difference was in date of birth.
Shahid Sharif, part of the RTE verification committee, said, “This means more fraudulent cases might have already got admission across the city. This one was detected through manual supervision and a lot of effort. I feel the entire RTE process needs to be overhauled as it is proven that software can be manipulated. If we can detect the fraud, why can’t the education department do it.”
State education director (primary) Dinkar Temkar, who is in charge of RTE process in Maharashtra, expressed surprise. “After online applications come, we check for common names etc and manually delete these before the lottery is initiated. We will reject this particular admission,” said Temkar.