With the RTE online admission process plagued by technical glitches for the third consecutive day, it’s not just harried parents who were at their wits’ end trying to upload admission forms. School managements, too, on Friday raised objections about glitches in the new system.
From the time the applications opened online, the Department of Public Instruction has been flooded with complaints from parents who are trying to get a seat in a private school for the 2017-18 academic year.
Through the complaint registration form alone, it has received 2,641 plaints from parents. A majority of the complaints were from parents who said there was a mismatch between the address on their Aadhaar card and the online form. Other complaints were related to mismatched pincodes and ward details.
Kumari S., a parent was at the BEO North Range-1 office at 8 a.m., was close to tears at noon after officials told her that the address in her Aadhaar card did not match with localities in the software. “The address in my Aadhaar card is 2nd block, Rajajinagar, but the software lists it as Rajajinagar 2nd block, and so it says that there is a mismatch.”
There were heated arguments in the offices of the Block Education Officers across the city as parents stood in long queues to apply online.
Other problems
Slow servers added to the problem, and officials took over 20 minutes to fill a single application form. In another case, sixty-five-year-old M.D. Nagaraj, who had come to apply for a seat for his granddaughter, was confused as his Aadhaar stated his address as West of Chord Road, while there was no such locality in the drop-down menu.
Department officials said age mismatch cases were instances where parents of underage or overage children had tried to apply and customised messages would be sent asking them to apply the next year if they were eligible.
‘Lot of confusion’
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said that parents were unable to view schools in their locality owing to technical problems.
“There is a lot of confusion among parents. If this is not fixed, several school managements will suffer as the RTE quota seats in their schools will not be filled. If this is not fixed by next week, we will have to approach the government. And if it is still not resolved, we may have to go to court,” Mr. Kumar said.
From the time the applications opened online, the Department of Public Instruction has been flooded with complaints from parents who are trying to get a seat in a private school for the 2017-18 academic year.
Through the complaint registration form alone, it has received 2,641 plaints from parents. A majority of the complaints were from parents who said there was a mismatch between the address on their Aadhaar card and the online form. Other complaints were related to mismatched pincodes and ward details.
Kumari S., a parent was at the BEO North Range-1 office at 8 a.m., was close to tears at noon after officials told her that the address in her Aadhaar card did not match with localities in the software. “The address in my Aadhaar card is 2nd block, Rajajinagar, but the software lists it as Rajajinagar 2nd block, and so it says that there is a mismatch.”
There were heated arguments in the offices of the Block Education Officers across the city as parents stood in long queues to apply online.
Other problems
Slow servers added to the problem, and officials took over 20 minutes to fill a single application form. In another case, sixty-five-year-old M.D. Nagaraj, who had come to apply for a seat for his granddaughter, was confused as his Aadhaar stated his address as West of Chord Road, while there was no such locality in the drop-down menu.
Department officials said age mismatch cases were instances where parents of underage or overage children had tried to apply and customised messages would be sent asking them to apply the next year if they were eligible.
‘Lot of confusion’
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said that parents were unable to view schools in their locality owing to technical problems.
“There is a lot of confusion among parents. If this is not fixed, several school managements will suffer as the RTE quota seats in their schools will not be filled. If this is not fixed by next week, we will have to approach the government. And if it is still not resolved, we may have to go to court,” Mr. Kumar said.