State education dept extends RTE admission deadline to May 4

The state education department has extended the deadline for admissions under Right to Education (RTE) to May 4, due to fewer number of confirmed seats under the first round.

The earlier deadline was earlier April 26. As of Friday, 36,743 admissions have been secured in the state out of 67,706 selections in the first lottery, which was declared on April 8.

In Pune district, 7,567 admissions out of the total selection of 12,566 seats have been secured.

“Due to the low percentage of admissions, coupled with the demand from parents and various organisations to extend the deadline do that they can complete the procedure and take admission, the deadline has been extended to May 4,” said Sunil Chauhan, director of primary education, state education department.

“The RTE officials claim that the reason behind the less number of admissions, is because they were preoccupied with election duty. However, parents say that they have been facing issues with the Google location distance; and that officials at the verification counter, have been delaying admissions after demanding to unnecessary documents,” said Mukund Kirdat, a city-based education activist.

“Officials have been denying students admission, stating that their parents income level exceeded the slab stated by the RTE. We have demanded for the RTE committee to speed up the verification process, so that remaining parents can meet the deadline,” said Mukund Kirdat, a city-based education activist.

Compared to 2018, the total number of RTE seats in the state has gone down by 9,340. A total of 2,44,932 online registered applications were received this year for 1,16,779 vacancies from 9,195 schools and 67,706 seats were selected across the state.

Pune district has received the highest number of RTE selections this year, since its commencement in 2012, with 12,566 selections in the first lottery. Meanwhile, Sindhudurg has received the lowest number of selections at 94, of which 52 admissions have been confirmed.

Election duty, fewer registrations

Number of RTE seats this year in state – 1,16,779

Number of RTE seats in 2018 in state – 1,26,119

Total number of online applications received- 2,44,932

First lottery selection seats in Pune – 12,566

No of seats secured in Pune district under first lottery-7,567

Total number of admissions secured in state as of April 26- 36,743