Edu dept to hold another round of RTE admissions

Around 46 % seats under the Right to Education (RTE) quota are vacant in Mumbai even after three rounds of admission. With a large number of quota seats across the

Around 46 % seats under the Right to Education (RTE) quota are vacant in Mumbai even after three rounds of admission. With a large number of quota seats across the state lying vacant, state education minister Ashish Shelar said the portal for admissions would be kept open.

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On Tuesday, Shelar tweeted: “Directed school education dept officials to keep open portal for RTE admissions, so that maximum students can benefit.”

This year, more than 39,000 seats lie vacant across the state, of which, over 4,000 are in city schools. “We are yet to get an official communication about restarting admissions. Once we get the details, the portal will be open for new applications and admissions will be conducted in an additional round. The schedule will be announced on the website,” said an official from the education department.

Activists said seats are still vacant because of hurdles in the admission process and the approach of schools towards these students. “Many schools do not give the necessary support to students such as uniform and books. The civic body should have a grievance redressal mechanism to address the issues so that there are more confirmations in seats across the state and more students benefit,” said Sudhir Paranjape, a city-based RTE activist.