45 students admitted under RTE in Dakshina Kannada

Mangaluru: Only 45 students have been admitted under the Right to Education Act (RTE), out of a total 479 seats allotted in Dakshina Kannada. According to officials, amendments in RTE rules have led to many seats remaining vacant. Parents whose wards have been admitted in reputed private English medium schools have accepted it, whereas others have refused it.
District RTE case worker Mahendra said that so far two rounds of allotment was done in the district. A total 68 seats were allotted in two rounds, out of 479 seats. However, only 45 seats have been filled. “There is no clarity on whether a third round will happen or not, since all the allotted seats are not taken,” Mahendra said, adding that parents who seek admissions under RTE, prefer only reputed private schools.
He added that a total of 94 schools across the district were selected to fill 479 RTE seats. Applications were submitted before March 15. In the first round, 59 students were selected, and among them, only 38 students were admitted. In the second round, seven students have taken admission, out of nine allotted seats.
The majority of the RTE seats are taken in Mangaluru North (30), Mangaluru South (11), and Moodbidri has four seats that have been filled. There are no RTE seats allotted in Bantwal, Puttur, Sullia, and Belthangady blocks.
The RTE Act reserves 25% of the seats for children from poor backgrounds in private schools. When the RTE Act was implemented a decade ago, Dakshina Kannada had 1,645 seats under the quota.
Karnataka amended the RTE Act in 2019. Sources said that the new amendment allowed parents to enrol children in private schools, only when no government or aided schools is available within a radius of one kilometre. This amendment was done due to the decrease in admissions in government schools.