Hundreds of MPS applications rejected due to one-km rule

Several students may miss out on a seat in non-state board civic schools rebranded as Mumbai Public Schools owing to a miscommunication between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials and parents

Mumbai: Several students may miss out on a seat in non-state board civic schools rebranded as Mumbai Public Schools owing to a miscommunication between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials and parents.

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While the online admission process to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and International Baccalaureate (IB) schools started from January 4, the eligibility criteria on the BMC portal was that students have to live within 3 km radius of the school.

However, a BMC circular on January 18, which was neither uploaded on the portal nor communicated to the parents, stated that only students living within 1 km radius of the school can apply. As a result, hundreds of applications were rejected for failing to adhere to the January 18 circular during the scrutiny on Monday.

“We live barely 1.5 km from the school, yet my son’s name is on the rejected list. The BMC education department is not guiding us properly because of which my son lost this opportunity,” a parent of a student from Matunga labour camp said.

About 126 applications for MPS (IGCSE) SLK Waghji Cambridge School in Matunga were cancelled for this reason.

Education Activist Ataul Khan said, “A large number of applications were cancelled in other schools as well. The circular which has been posted by the BMC on the website from which this online admission process is conducted mentions 3 km.”

When asked, BMC education department officials said, “Until last year, admissions were given in these schools from pre-primary to class 8 where there was a condition of 3 km. But this year, as only pre-primary is being admitted, the condition is 1 km in accordance with the Right to Education Act. The circular was conveyed to parents through social media.”

Khan said, “The revised circular issued by the BMC on January 18 only reached schools but not parents. This led to hundreds of parents applying. When the rejected list was announced, many parents came to know about the revised circular. This is why the BMC should now give relief to the parents.”

What about the mayor’s quota?

In the admission process in these schools, 10% seats are reserved for the mayor’s choice and 5% are reserved for municipal employees. Khan has also demanded on behalf of the parents that since the BMC does not have a seating mayor this year, 10% seats should be opened for general students so that more students can be accommodated in these schools.