AGAINST 81,258 approved applications, the Gujarat Education Department has been able to admit only 62,419 students under the Right to Education Act’s (RTE) 25 per cent reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and disadvantaged groups.Earlier, 65,441 provisional admissions were given to the underprivileged students in state’s private schools, but the department received objections against over 3,022 applications. The department, however, claims that they will be admitted soon. Still, falling short of over 15,817 admissions, the department claims non-availability of seats in schools within 6 km radius of the children's residence as the reason. As per the state rules, the children residing within 1 km radius of concerned schools are given first preference. In case, the seats are not filled, children living within 3 km radius will be given chance followed by those staying within 6 km radius. “Despite increasing the seats from 60,000 to 82,000, keeping in mind the large number of applications received this year, the shortage in final admissions is due to the distance constraint stipulated in the Act. For over 15,000 approved applications, there is no seat available in private schools within the radius of 6 km. Though we cannot go beyond the Act's rules, if still any seat falls vacant after admissions, the remaining students will be accommodated,” said principal secretary of education Sunaina Tomar. The non-government organisations associated with these admissions, on the other hand, have been crying foul. “The main problem in identifying the schools within the radius of 6 km is the app used by the education department that does not identify all of them. We have already raised this issue with the department but to no avail,” said Mujahid Nafees from RTE Forum, a group based in Ahmedabad. The highest number of admissions (16,860) has been approved in Ahmedabad (both municipal corporation and district areas) followed by Rajkot (7,554), Surat (4,670), Vadodara (4,516), Gandhinagar (2,376), Bhavnagar (2,273) and Jamnagar (2,080). The least number of students have been admitted in the tribal areas of the Dangs and Mahisagar in only 36 and 55 seats, respectively. Also, earlier there were ten categories under which admission to EWS and disadvantaged groups has to be ensured. However, the education department modified this rule, according to which, if seats remain vacant after admitting students in 25 per cent reserved seats in unaided schools, children belonging to general category with a family income below Rs 68,000 in urban areas and Rs 47,000 in rural areas will be eligible for admissions.
