Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Poor turn their back on elite schools

BANGALORE: Much to their respite, the most sought-after private schools under RTE have been left high and dry on admissions under the RTE quota. Even before they could strike off the poor, the Economically Weaker Section has completely discarded them. 

Major city schools say they have received hardly any applications for admission under the RTE quota. While Delhi Public School has received only one application form, National Public School (NPS) said it's received four or five requests for admission. Likewise, other private schools have also received a minimal number of application forms. 

"We have not received any admission forms from RTE quota students. Anyway, we are done with the admission process and are holding a dialogue with the government to get exemption from RTE for this academic year. Although no decision has been taken yet, no one either from the EWS or disadvantaged section came to us for admission," said Deepa Sreedhar, principal, Sri Kumaran Children's Home. 

The scenario is more or less similar in all other elite schools that do come under RTE. NPS Koramangala says the school received one inquiry about admission, but the applicant did not return. "We answered their queries and asked them to come back for admission. But they never returned. I feel this reaction has a lot to do with psychology. Parents from the EWS section have doubts about how their kids will cope amid children from a completely different part of society," said Bindu Hari, principal, NPS Koramangala. 

Although Delhi Public School has lately joined the league of minority institutions, it received only one admission query before getting the minority certificate. "We got one query for Class IV. Now we are out of RTE, after receiving the minority certificate," said Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, Delhi Public School. 

Indirect applications flood BEOs 

Children from EWS have a long way to go, with the first stumbling block in the form of the school management rejecting the admission application. According to data gathered from DDPI offices, 337 admission forms were rejected by city schools. "We've received 265 indirect admission forms. Indirect forms are those applications that are rejected by school managements at the time of submission and then come to us. There are many schools denying admission and parents turn to us as their last resort," said an education officer. Similarly, 72 indirect applications have been received from Bangalore South. 

At least 3,061 applications were received by Block Education Officers across Bangalore, apart from those submitted online or directly to the school authorities. While 1,568 admission forms were submitted from Bangalore North, 1,494 applications were received by Bangalore South. Around 400 indirect application forms have also been identified by BEOs.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Poor-turn-their-back-on-elite-schools/articleshow/13651809.cms

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