Chennai: With the Union government instructing all schools to strictly implement the Right to Education (RTE) Act, several institutions in the city are now unwilling to admit children staying more than three kilometres from them.
Schools have also started to fill seats based on first cum first serve basis as the RTE Act has banned entrance tests and interviews for admission. Some plan to admit students based on their parent’s socio-economic backgrounds and the child’s past academic performance.
“We will take into consideration a child’s academic performance in the previous class for admission to higher classes as the RTE Act forbids an entrance test and interview,” said an administrator of a matriculation school.
But the stricter rules enforced by the schools has some parents upset. “We are in a fix as there is no good quality school in our vicinity. We don’t know where to admit my son. We are even ready to pay donation if the school demands but they are afraid to violate the RTE act,” said a parent, Shankar.
Another parent, Shanthi, said the government should improve the quality of schools before implementing such a law. “The authorities need to consider the needs of parents before being so inflexibile,” she said. Enquiry with some school administrators about the method they plan to follow for admission in May revealed that they would admit children in kindergarten sections based on parent’s socio-economic background and child’s intelligence.
“We will take a child’s academic performance in the previous class for admission to higher classes as RTE act forbids entrance tests,” said an administrator. A senior official of the school education department said it would soon come out with rules and regulations for schools to follow for admitting students under RTE.