Prep for RTE admissions begins early this year

Pune: Preparations for online admission to 25% seats reserved under the Right to Education (RTE) Act for the forthcoming academic year have begun early this year in the month of December itself. With the state primary education department having started the preparations, parents interested in getting their children admitted under the RTE Act will also have to start preparing to submit the necessary documents.

Under the RTE admission process, 25% seats are reserved in English medium schools for students from socially- and economically- backward sections. The online admission process is conducted for them every year. There are three- to four- times the number of applications as compared to the seats available for admission every academic year. Therefore, students are admitted through an online lottery system by the state education department, which carries out the entire process.

However, some parents still try to get admission through the offline method. A few days ago, a police case was registered against a school accountant who cheated the parents of a child by claiming to provide admission under RTE in Podar School, Wagholi. Hence, the education department has to take care to ensure that parents do not fall prey to such people.

The state director of primary education, Sharad Gosavi, said, “The primary education department will start the preliminary preparation for RTE admission for the forthcoming academic year in the month of December itself. Preliminary preparations are being made for registering schools for RTE admission, checking the online system, appealing to parents to keep necessary documents, creating awareness among parents regarding admission etc.”

The trend over the last many years has been for the RTE admission process to begin late due to which RTE students tend to lag behind their non-RTE counterparts. With the admission process having begun early this year, parents are hopeful that the process will be completed within the scheduled time.

“I want to take admission to Class 1 for my daughter under RTE for the academic year 2024-25, and it is good that the process has started early now,” said Samruddhi Jagtap, a parent.