RTE quota: Students across Maharashtra get five days more to take admission

Schools have failed to fill in students under the RTE quota, despite extending the deadlines several times.

The state education department has extended the date for admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act to April 10.

A total of 2,000 students within Thane district have failed to take admission in the first round.(HT FILE)

The decision was taken because of the poor response for admissions under RTE.

A total of 2,000 students within Thane district have failed to take admission in the first round.

Schools have failed to fill in students under the RTE quota, despite extending the deadlines several times. The education department had also given warnings to schools to not ignore students under the RTE Act.

Within Thane district, there is a vacancy of 16,594 RTE seats. In the first round of lottery, 5,702 students were picked. From among these, 3,426 have taken admission.

This year, the Thane district has decided to give prominence to those staying within the 1kilometre radius of schools.

The first lottery was conducted on March 13. The process for RTE admissions began early this year, so that the academic year completes in time. But the process is getting delayed due to many extensions.

By March 24, only 1,300 took admission. The 10-day extension helped the figure to double. Officials are hoping for a better response in the next five days.

“As per the RTE rules, during the admission process, one has to pick a few schools of their choice. We filter the applicants for the lottery accordingly,” said Kalpana Shinde, RTE official, Thane Zilla Parishad.

Earlier, a 10-day extension was given for RTE admission. Now, a five-day extension is being given to students to confirm admission.