Parents unhappy, say many govt schools only have up to Class IV or VII

The Maharashtra government recently amended the rule of implementation for the RTE and declared that private schools having a government-run school within 1-km area will not be obligated to admit children under RTE quota, which until now reserved 25 per cent of seats from self-financed and private schools to admit students from economically backward sections of the society. Due to this, all government-run and aided schools are brought under the RTE admission process.

It has resulted in a huge increase in the number of schools participating in RTE admissions; from only 8,800 schools to over 75,000 schools this year, offering 9.5 lakh seats for entry-level admissions. But parents have raised concerns that many of these schools do not have classes beyond IV or VII, leaving them to look for another school in future.

A parents said, “Just because there is a huge increase in the number of available seats under RTE, it does not ensure so many admissions. Many parents would not want to confirm admission on the allotted seat, if the school is only up to Class IV or VII, whereas RTE admissions fundamentally meant that now we do not have to look for school until Class X.”

The state government, however, disagrees. Accepting that there are government schools which are only till Class IV or VIII, a senior official from the school education department said, “Under the project of strengthening of government schools, it is already decided to add higher classes to such schools having adequate enrollment of students.”