RTE admissions: After 1 month delay, round 3 begins

MUMBAI : After a month’s delay, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started the third round of admissions on Wednesday for seats reserved under the Right

MUMBAI : After a month’s delay, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started the third round of admissions on Wednesday for seats reserved under the Right to Education (RTE) Act for students from economically and socially weaker sections.

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These seats are at entry-level in 318 unaided and non-minority schools. Students do not have to pay school fee till Class 8 and the government reimburses the schools in return. A total of 9,664 seats — 3,359 in pre-primary and 6,305 in Class 1 — were available under the quota this year.

In the third round, 4,000 students applied for 6,018 seats after the initial two rounds. An online lottery was held on Wednesday afternoon for schools that received more applications than their available seats. Students who were allotted seats will get an SMS alert by Thursday morning. “Although many seats are vacant, students are applying only for seats in coveted schools,” said Nisaar Khan, beat officer of BMC. Nearly, 1,118 seats in 68 schools did not receive a single application in this round.

In the previous rounds, 2,423 students confirmed their admissions. But the status of 105 seats in 10 non-state board schools is still pending. “We are waiting for the state education department to give us an update on these seats,” said Khan.

Education activists complained that students missed several school days owing to the delay in the procedure. “Schools began holding classes in June and two months after that RTE admission process is still not over. Students admitted late will have a hard time catching up with the rest,” said Sudhir Paranjape, member of the Anudanit Shiksha Bachao Samiti, an NGO that helps EWS students.