Campus Watch: RTE admissions begin in schools across state except Pune

Five days have passed since admissions to the 25% reserved seats under the EWS quota of the Right to Education (RTE) Act have started in schools across the state in all districts except Pune.

Under the quota, students from economically weaker sections (EWS) whose parents earn less than Rs 1 lakh per year or those from reserved categories are eligible for admission in registered private schools and their fees will be reimbursed by the government till Class 8.

Owing to the delay in receiving reimbursements from the government, schools across the state – led by associations in Pune – have resisted against registering for the process for the last couple of years. This year too, even as the process is underway in every other district across the state since February 16 and more than 42,000 students have already registered for the seats in other districts, parents in Pune are still waiting for the process to start.

One of the parents, Mohammedwadi resident Dilip Suryavanshi, who lost his job as an office clerk last year due to a downsizing in the wake of Covid-19, now works as an auto driver and cannot afford private school education for his only child. “I live in a joint family and my elder brothers’ kids go to a private English medium school. The fees are quite high and currently I am not in a position to pay. One of my friends told me about the RTE quota and I prepared all my documents and got a domicile and income certificate after paying an agent. I hope they start the process soon as it’s making us anxious. Private schools have almost closed admissions for next year,” he said.

According to the RTE admission website, there are over 96,000 seats across Maharashtra. Currently, 765 schools have completed the registration in Pune district where RTE available seats are a little over 11,000 seats. The numbers, though, do not reflect ground reality. Last year, 972 schools in Pune had registered for the process and nearly 17,000 seats were available against which 13,720 students got admissions.

Dinkar Temkar, Director of Primary Education, Maharashtra said registrations are pending for nearly a hundred schools. “We had given a deadline for schools to complete registration and later an extension was given as well but Pune district data was still not finalised. We cannot delay the process for the entire state so we started it as per the schedule and have asked local education officials to hasten the process for Pune,” he said.

Meanwhile, activists said resistance from schools is not solely responsible for the delay and that the lackadaisical attitude of education department officials too was equally to blame.

“Since schools resist the registration process, officers are supposed to fill in data as per previous year’s records and then personally cross check with the schools, to see if anything has changed in terms of intake capacity and so on. When I enquired three days ago, they were doing this process which means once again, parents in Pune have a long wait ahead of them,” said Mukund Kirdat, education activist and AAP city chief.

Who is eligible to take admission under the EWS quota of RTE?

Students from economically weaker or socially backward sections can apply for admission under the quota seats. In case of the former, parents will have to furnish an income certificate issued by the revenue department stating their annual income does not exceed Rs 1 lakh. In case of SC/ST candidates, there is no limit on income but parents will have to submit a caste certificate.

Which schools can students apply to?

Parents can apply to any school within a radius of 3 km from the student’s place of residence. Applications can be made online at http://www.student.maharashtra.gov.in

What is the age limit for admissions?

As per the latest circular, the age limit for admissions to nursery/playgroup is for those having completed 3 years as of December 31, 2022 and for admissions to Class 1, is students who have completed 6 years as of December 31, 2022.