Parents still confused about Right to Education guidelines

BENGALURU: With online enrollment for 25% quot a set to commence from Sunday, parents apprised the task force about the confusion and lack of government communication about the guidelines to admit kids under RTE.
As per the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, private schools must ensure 25% of their students from nursery to class 8 are from economically backward families.The schools are supposed to educate these students free of cost, apart from taking care of their uniforms, textbooks, notebooks and in some cases, transport.
However, parents on Friday claimed important information and changes in the rules have left them confused. They complained that government helplines are either perpetually busy or operators claim the servers are down.
Nagalakshmi, a mother of two from Chamarajpet, said while her elder daughter is too old to avail of RTE benefits, she is keen on getting her younger son enrolled. "One of the main problems has been restricting admission for students within their wards. There are no good schools in my ward, but I don't have an option."
Nagasimha G Rao, state convenor of the task force, said there is a long way to go. "The meeting had been convened because of inadequate government information about the guidelines."