Mumbai: Nearly 60% students confirm seats in first RTE round

Mumbai: Only 60% students have confirmed their admissions for Right to Education (RTE) lottery round for Mumbai schools according to the data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Only 3,372 of the 5,690 kids whose seats were assigned under the act have officially accepted their admissions in the BMC schools. A total of 4,343 have been selected for admission to Maharashtra state board schools whereas 1,347 were allotted schools that follow different educational boards.

A total of 6,569 seats were availablethe RTE Act and 337 schools from all around the city participated in the lottery. Of these, 65 were non-state board schools while 272 are linked with the Maharashtra board.

The Right to Education (RTE) Act reserves 25% of Class 1 and Pre-primary places in private non-minority schools for children from economically disadvantaged families. These children receive free education, while the government reimburses schools for their tuition payments.

While the state has 1.02 lakh RTE seats this year, 94,700 of them were awarded to children in the normal round via a lottery procedure, taking into account the list of school options supplied by parents as well as the distance of these schools from students' residents. Seats that were not claimed in the first round are given to other parents.

The RTE admissions were delayed this year due to a lack of clarity on making Aadhar compulsory for admitting students. The state education department later clarified that while the parents who don't have Aadhar for themselves or their children are eligible for admissions, they will have to furnish the document within a stipulated time.