Widespread panic and confusion gripped parents after they failed to receive SMS alerts for the second admission list under the Right to Education (RTE) Act that was published on June 13. Seeking admission for their wards under the 25 per cent quota the parents were looking out for text messages from the state education department announcing whether their kids had been selected.Parents and activists who were working to get the admissions done are now running pillar to post to see if they have got the admissions. As people seeking under this Act usually do not access to the internet, they waited for several days expecting the SMS alert to come in, but later got to know that the names of their wards were not on the second list too and had to take admission in other schools paying fees.Sachin Waghmare, a parent, said, “We did not get any SMS from the state government for RTE admission’s second list. Therefore we had to start hunting another school for my son. The schools have already started and the process was delayed.”Mukund Kirdat, an RTE activist said, “There were no SMS alerts. Parents approached us and we had to help them check if their child was selected. Even if the student is selected still the schools are now rejecting students or asking for fees. We have a parent complaining about the school asking money that they would reimburse once the government pays them.”Sharad Javadekar, another activist, said, “While the state government did not send any SMS alerts, we asked them to have some help desks where parents can approach. By doing such things, government is just delaying the RTE process where parents and students are suffering. Government should keep its technical system at place. Now the schools have been started already and parents are still waiting for RTE admissions.”Shivaji Daundkar, education officer, Pune Municipal Corporation, said, “The SMS could not be sent due to a technical problem but parents have been approaching us and our officials are helping them check the admission status. While the last date of taking admission for second list was June 16, it has been now extended till June 20 due to technical errors the parents faced.”Protesting on the issue, Maharashtra Navnirman Yuva Sena has planned to gift 100 SIM cards to the state government to show parents distress. MNS activist, Kalpesh Yadav, said, “We will be giving 100 SIM cards to the state government on June 20 which is the last day to take the admission under RTE quota’s second list. When the SMS did not reach the parents, they had to go to cyber cafes and check if their name has appeared. Education department has already delayed the admission process and such system failures are causing problems for the parents seeking admission for their wards.”

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