Mumbai: Parents and students wanting to secure admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act are taking a sigh of relief as they have been given more time to confirm their seats. This extra time time has been given due to the elections and as most parents and students are travelling due to summer vacations and are out of town.
Around 3,532 students have been allotted seats in private unaided schools in the first phase of RTE admissions. But out of this, only 55 per cent students have secured their seats and confirmed admissions. The earlier deadline to secure admissions was April 26 but now it has been extended till May 4.
Officials of the civic education department managing RTE admissions revealed that the extra time will help more students to confirm admissions. Mahesh Palkar, BMC Education Officer, said, “We understand that the city has witnessed an election phase recently with voting and other electoral work affecting the due course of RTE admissions. Also, it is summer vacation and many parents along with their children are travelling. So we have extended the deadline.”
Under the RTE, students from economically weak sections can secure free education till Class 8 in private unaided schools. As many as 25 per cent seats in these schools are reserved for RTE admissions. Fees and basic educational expenses are borne by the state government once these students confirm their admissions.
This year, 11,584 students have applied online to avail the benefit of free and compulsory education up to Class 8 under RTE. As many as 7,491 seats are available under the RTE in 356 city schools. Students have been allotted seats under the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board and other boards too.
