SO FAR only 2,392 students in Mumbai have confirmed their seats for admissions through the Right to Education (RTE) Act, against the 9,664 seats available. With only 25 per cent admissions confirmed after two lottery rounds, several seats may remain vacant throughout the academic year. More than 12,000 applications were received for RTE admissions but only 6,409 aspirants confirmed their applications. In the first round, 3,411 students were allotted but only 2,041 confirmed their admissions. Apart from the 243 rejected applicants, the rest had been eligible for the second round in which 1,618 applicants were allotted seats. However, almost three weeks since the second round, only 351 students have confirmed the admissions. Officials in the education department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that 1,365 applicants had not approached schools for admissions. They said unlike the first round, they have not received any complaints of schools denying admission to students. “So far we haven’t received any complaint from parents that a school is refusing admissions. Moreover, according to reports from schools, parents have not approached them for admissions,” said the official. According to officials, a third round will be held in a week’s time and the chances of a fourth round were bleak. Meanwhile, activists said the entire process of online allotment was flawed and several students had not been allotted seats yet. “Schools are keeping the seats vacant on purpose,” said RTE activist Sudhir Paranjape, who said more than 300 students are yet to be allocated seats. He said the vacant seats will be carried over to the subsequent class which will be filled by the schools next year against hefty sums. “There is no compulsion on schools to fill seats through RTE beyond Class I,” said Paranjape. “Many students have either not received any message or have received regret messages in both the rounds. Meanwhile, so many seats remain vacant in schools,” said Paranjape. Watch Video: What's making news However, officials said the allotment was skewed because some schools were preferred by more number of students and some had not received any applications. Of the 317 schools eligible for RTE admissions, 68 did not receive any applications. Paranjape said they will move the Supreme Court to increase the entry level of RTE admissions to Class VII.
