Mumbai: Over 5,000 Students Selected Under RTE 25% Quota For 2025-26 Admissions

Mumbai: More than 5,000 students in Mumbai have been selected in the first round of admissions under the 25% reservation quota of the Right to Education (RTE) Act for the academic year 2025-26. The District Council Primary Education Department has urged parents to confirm their children’s admission by 28 February.

A total of 327 schools across Mumbai have been designated as eligible for the RTE admission process this year, offering a combined total of 6,053 seats. However, only 5,157 students have been selected in the first round, according to data available on the official RTE website.

Former President of the Headmasters’ Association, Mahendra Ganpule, assured that the remaining seats would be allocated in subsequent rounds. “The department releases three lists in total. Once parents have submitted the necessary documents and confirmed their child’s admission from this list, the remaining seats will be filled through the next two rounds,” he explained.

The RTE admission process for the upcoming academic year commenced on 14 January, with an initial deadline for applications set on 27 January. This was later extended to 2 February to accommodate more applicants. In total, approximately 15,000 applications were received across Mumbai during this period.

The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights recently directed the Director of Primary Education to complete the RTE admission process for the 2025–26 academic year by May 2025. This directive follows significant delays in previous years, which resulted in 11,000 unfilled seats in 2023–24 and 26,000 vacant seats in 2024–25, depriving thousands of children of their right to free education.

Nitin Dalvi, President of the Maharashtra Students, Parents, and Teachers Federation, has warned that legal action will be taken if delays persist this year. “If children are still without admission by May, parents will have no choice but to enrol them in private schools and pay fees to secure their future. This completely undermines the core objective of the RTE Act, which is to provide free education to economically disadvantaged students,” Dalvi stated.

The RTE Act ensures that 25% of seats in private schools are reserved for children from economically weaker backgrounds, aiming to provide them with access to quality education. Authorities continue to stress the importance of timely admissions to ensure that eligible students benefit from this initiative.