RTE applications seeking admission to private schools cross one lakh

With Saturday being the last day for registering applications seeking admission for children into self-financing schools under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, the State has recorded over 1.10 lakh applications. Officials expect the number to exceed by another 10000.

The RTE Act mandates 25 per cent reservation in admission for those children belonging to the disadvantaged and weaker sections in all the self-financing schools in the entry-level.

Soon after the government issued the notification this year, parents categorised under the above-mentioned sections of the society began filing applications since April 22 for their children to secure admission in private schools.

Aiming to ensure transparency in the admission process, online registration was introduced this year and the government has also facilitated online submission of the applications at block level education offices and e-seva centres across the State.

While a senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next on Saturday that around 1.10 lakh applications were received so far, he added that another ten thousand applications were expected even on the last day.

With admission available for about 1.22 lakh children under the RTE Act this year, the official said all private schools are obliged to grant admission to such children. “If the eligible applicants are more than the intake capacity of a school, random selection method is adopted in the presence of an officer deputed by the Chief Educational Officer of the district concerned,” he added.

The official added that valid applications received from children who are orphaned, affected by HIV, transgender or the child of a scavenger will, however, be given priority in admission before starting random selection process.

Meanwhile, with Saturday being the last date for registration, the portal server was down for several hours since morning, thereby posing a tough time for parents wanting to file application for their ward.

“We had to wait for more than three hours at the e-seva centre since 10 am,” K Dili Babu, the guardian of a child at MKB Nagar seeking admission under the RTE Act, said.