The admission process had ended at midnight on September 25. However, as against the total intake capacity of 1.1 lakh seats, only 86,318 online applications were received. “Therefore, the government decided to extend RTE enrollment till October 12,” said a senior official from the School Education department.

Since then, more applications have come in, said the official, adding that the department expected the final number of applications to exceed the intake capacity.

The number of RTE admissions in Tamil Nadu was 64,385 in 2018-19, which went up to 76,927 in the last academic year. But in the 2020-21 academic year, the enrolment numbers are expected to cross one lakh marks, as many parents who are facing financial crisis due to the lockdown have applied.

The official added that if the number of eligible applicants exceeded the intake capacity of a school, random selection method would be adopted in the presence of an officer deputed by the Chief Educational Officer of the district concerned.

With 565, Tiruvallur district has the most number of private schools and thus the highest number of 7,075 seats under RTE, followed by Kancheepuram (504 schools and 6,245 seats). In Chennai, there are 462 private schools and 5,533 RTE seats. “All applications will be scrutinised to remove multiple entries from a single parent, and the list will be released on November 11,” he said.