Parents’ body urge education department to complete school admission under RTE by May

Under RTE Act, 25 per cent of total seats in private-unaided schools are reserved for children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

These students receive free education until Class 8, with the government reimbursing the school fees.

Nitin Dalvi, a representative of the Maharashtra State Student Parents Teachers Federation, said, “The RTE admission is a preferred choice for many parents of eligible children as it allows free-education. But the process is always mismanaged due to various issues. Many parents wait until May for RTE admissions. However, with no clarity, they end up enrolling their children through the regular cycle of school admission by paying the fees, as the academic year starts in June and non-RTE admission concludes by May.”

The application process for the 2025-26 academic year has already begun, with the application deadline set for January 27.

Over 1.8 lakh applications have been filed already for 1,09,134 available RTE seats across 8,863 schools in the state.

Dalvi pointed out that in the 2023-24 academic year, the RTE admissions were delayed until August—well after the school year had started.

Of the 94,700 RTE seats, only 82,879 students were admitted, leaving 11,821 seats vacant.

“The number of vacant seats in 2024-25 are likely much higher due to delays caused by a proposed amendment to the RTE rules, which sought to exclude private schools located within 1 kilometer of government or aided schools from the admissions process. This led to a legal dispute, and the process had to restart,” Dalvi explained.