Over two lakh apply for 1 lakh seats under RTE admissions

This year, there are a total of 9,088 schools participating in the RTE admissions across the state offering 1,02,022 seats. Whereas applications seeking admissions for these seats stood at 2,85,326. In the Mumbai district, there are 6,481 seats are available for admissions in 343 schools, but the total number of applications submitted stood at 15,659.

However, there is still no clarity on when the lottery process will begin to allot seats based on which parents can confirm the admissions of their children. In relief to parents, this year a total of three chances will be given to confirm admission for the allotted seats. Considering significant migration during the pandemic period, this facility is introduced; wherein once the seat is allotted through a lottery, if a parent is unable to reach the respective school within a given deadline, two extensions will be allowed.

“This year, a strict process is going to be followed to verify the documents submitted by parents for RTE admissions. And if any document is found forged, action will be taken. This is introduced after receiving several complaints about parents submitting false documents to show that they belong to economically weaker sections of society,” said an official from the education department.

There is a marginal decrease in the number of seats this year, as the number of schools participating in the RTE admissions process has dropped to 9,088 schools from 9,432 last year.

The schools attribute the drop to a delay in reimbursement by the government for expenditure done for the RTE seats.

Under the RTE Act, 25 per cent of total seats in private schools are reserved for children coming from underprivileged backgrounds. The state government holds a centralised admission process for these seats and the same are allotted through a lottery system.