Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K. Selvaperunthagai on Wednesday said that SC/ST, OBC, and economically weaker students wanting to join private schools as per the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, have been facing several obstacles, and urged the Tamil Nadu government to monitor the admission process in the State.
In a statement, Mr. Selvaperunthagai said a number of issues prevent students from the marginalised sections from making use of the provisions of the RTE Act.
“The website through which students can apply for admissions doesn’t work the way it should. The schools also do not make any announcement on their notice boards about admissions based on reservations. Also, according to the RTE Act, students need to live close to the schools (1 km radius), and many applications are rejected based on this rule,” he said.
Mr. Selvaperunthagai said that around 1 lakh students should be admitted in 8,000 schools, and that those hailing from families with income less than ₹2 lakh per year also face issues during admission. “There have been reports of students from the SC/ST and backward classes finding it difficult to get an admission because of this income clause,” he said.
