Gujarat HC seeks government affidavit on RTE admissions plan

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday asked the state government how it plans to assign preference to underprivileged children in admissions for 1.17 lakh seats at private schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
The high court sought a reply from the government on affidavit by Friday about its method to assign preference after the state government told the court that against 1.50 lakh valid applications for RTE admissions, only 1.17 lakh seats are available in Class I at private schools across the state, in the 25% free admission quota.
The high court has also asked whether the state government has a grievance redress system to deal with the issues parents of children who have applied for RTE admissions are facing.
The HC posed these questions during the hearing of a PIL filed by Sandip Munjyasara, who urged the HC to direct the authorities to declare a schedule for RTE admissions and insisted on transparency in the process.
Munjyasara has been filing PILs for better implementation of RTE laws so that poor children can benefit from this welfare scheme. He said that last year, only 76,431 children were granted admission against 1.09 lakh seats available in private schools. There has been a very slow increase in the number of RTE admissions over the last six years.
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