Maharashtra’s RTE admission: A third of students fail to get admissions due to delay

This year’s RTE admissions in Maharashtra have experienced record-breaking delays due to amendments to the RTE implementation rules and subsequent court cases. According to parents, the delayed process led many of them to confirm admissions elsewhere.

“With the court case ongoing, there was no clarity about RTE admissions until late July. By that time, other schools had already commenced the new academic year. I confirmed admission outside of RTE to avoid academic loss for my child,” one parent said.

The recent amendment stated that private schools with government or aided schools within a one-kilometre radius were not obligated to give RTE admissions. The government began the process accordingly, but it was soon stayed by the High Court after the amendment was challenged by parents. In July, the High Court ruled in favour of the parents, instructing the Maharashtra government to resume RTE admissions in their original format, wherein 25 percent of total seats are reserved in private unaided schools for children from underprivileged sections of society.

RTE admissions in Maharashtra eventually began on July 23. Despite the delay, over 200,000 applications were received for just over 100,000 available seats in schools under RTE.

Sharad Gosavi, Director of Education (Primary), said, “The admission process has now started for those on the waiting list. A total of 23,850 students have been selected from the waiting list, and messages have been sent to their registered mobile numbers informing them of their selection.”