RTE admission schedule not declared yet; activists write to Maha education dept

The schedule for admissions under the 25 per cent quota of the Right to Education (RTE) in the state has not been declared till now by the state education department. The schedule is usually declared in December for the next academic year.

Last year as well, the declaration of the schedule was delayed till March due to which the admission process was extended till September and had four rounds. So, to avoid the delay this year, educational organisations and experts have demanded for the early announcement of the admission schedule.

“Since the last two years, the admission schedule is being declared in March and the process goes on till September. Parents face many difficulties in the admission process and have to wait till September and if they don’t get admission through RTE, their child’s entire academic year has been wasted. We have written to the state education department to immediately declare the RTE admission schedule for the academic year 2020-21,” said Mukund Kirdat, education activist. 

Director of primary education Dinkar Temkar, who looks after RTE admissions, said, “We have received a letter from some of the organisations demanding the RTE admission schedule to be declared soon. We are trying to announce the schedule by the first week of February.”

Last year, out of a total 1,24,530 students who were allotted seats, 76,909 completed their admission procedure after verification of documents in 9,195 schools. At least 47,621 students were unable to complete the admission and parents and education activists blamed the administration for the mismanagement. 

Another education expert, Ashok Ghatpande, who works in the city slum areas to help children from underprivileged families get admission through RTE, levelled allegations against elite schools. “Elite schools do not want their RTE seats to be filled and they are also supported by the education department officials. From filling up forms to getting all the documents and going through the verification process, parents have to face many hurdles. Most of the applications are rejected due to simple reasons and if the schedule is declared early, the process will start early and before the schools starts in June, the admissions would be completed. Then, if someone doesn’t get admission through the RTE quota, they can apply through the normal process and the child’s academic year will not be wasted,” Ghatpande said.