Mangaluru: Members of ‘Nammuru Nekkiladi’ staged a demonstration in front of the Puttur Block Education Office on Thursday to protest against the alleged discrimination in seat allocation under Right to Education Act (RTE).

The protesters said that the ward and the village-wise limit should be scrapped and the taluk-wise seat allocation should be considered instead. Government seats should not go to privileged children but should be made available to eligible children from less-privileged families.

A taluk-wise committee should be formed to monitor the seat allocation process, they said.

Association president Jatindra Shetty said that children from rural areas are deprived of free seats owing to the loopholes in the implementation of RTE Act.
Secretary Abdul Rehman said that students in 34 Nekkiladi, which is located at a distance of half a kilometre from Uppinangady, have not secured admissions while students of Bajattur, Kodimbadi, and Hirebandadi villages are also deprived of the facility.

Roopesh Rai Alimaru, Jayaprakash Shetty and Satyavati Poonja took part in the protest among others.

A memorandum addressed to Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanvir Sait was later submitted to Block Education Coordinator Lokanand.