Maharashtra RTE admissions: Concerns over unclaimed seats as second waiting list round begins

Under RTE, children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds are given free education in private unaided schools, with the government reimbursing their fees. This year, 3,05,152 applications were received for 1,09,087 seats across 8,863 schools. Of these, 1,01,967 students were selected through a lottery. However, only 69,645 confirmed their admissions, leaving over 32,000 seats unclaimed.

Following this, 85,457 applicants were selected from the waiting list. In the first round, only 12,065 out of 85,457 confirmed their seats. A second waiting list round was initiated on Tuesday with the Directorate of School Education (Primary), which conducts the RTE admissions, announcing that applicants can confirm admissions till April 15.

Mukund Kirdat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who has been assisting underprivileged families in Pune with the RTE process, explained that the issue is not a lack of students but a complex, unfriendly system. He said, “Many parents, especially those from less educated or underprivileged backgrounds, struggle with the application process. They step back when met with the simplest of issues due to lack of support system, while affluent parents are able to tackle the online process and exploit the system.”

Sharad Gosavi, Director of Education (Primary), said that applicants are always huge in number as there is no requirement of submitting any documents at this stage. “But failure to do so at the time of admission means that the applicants will not get admission even after allotment of seats. Parents can list up to 10 preferred schools. There will be only one allotment per applicant, and if it is not what they want, parents do not confirm admission on allotted seats. This indicates that these parents are able to take admission without RTE support.”

Gosavi said that the government is working on ways to streamline the process so that all the deserving candidates get the benefit of RTE admissions. “We are going to invite suggestions from the public on what measures can be introduced to ensure it,” he said.