Talking to DT Next, a senior official from Education Department said that they have admitted children from disadvantaged groups, weaker sections, orphans, children of manual scavengers and children with special needs (CWSN), pointing out how RTE Act mandates 25 per cent reservation in all private schools. 

According to the official, the provisional figure from this year show that about 80,000 students belonging to disadvantaged groups were admitted to different schools. Similarly, about 19,500 students from weaker sections of the society and more than 400 children with special needs were also given admission in private schools. In addition, about 200 children of manual scavengers, too, obtained admission in private schools under the act.

In order to ensure transparency in the admission process under RTE Act, the School Education Department has, for the first time, introduced online admission this academic year.

The official said that the online admission process adopted random selection method if the number of applications from eligible students are more than the intake capacity of a school. He added that applications from orphans, children of scavengers and CWSN were given priority before starting the random selection process.

“The selection of the candidates was done in the presence of an officer deputed by the Chief Education Officer of the districts concerned,” he added.

The education officer added that 90,000 children were admitted to schools under the provision in the last academic year. “This year, the introduction of online admission has not only brought transparency but also reduced the workload of the officials who monitored the admission process,” the official pointed out.