While the education department has not even initiated the process, parents of RTE aspirants fear that their kids may lose one whole year owing to this delay
In March, when schools are in the process of finishing their admission process, the state education department has not even begin with theirs for Right to Education (RTE) aspirants. Parents seeking admission under RTE for their children fear that this delay will cause their kids to lose an entire year.
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Parents would prefer affordable private schools over civic schools if the RTE process doesn’t pan out
Under the RTE Act, 25% of total seats in private schools are reserved for students coming from socio-economically backward classes and the state education department conducts one exam to fill these seats.
Parents say
Varsha Walimbe, a Dahisar resident, who is hoping to get her daughter admitted to a private school under the RTE quota, is already looking for affordable private schools to have options. “We will be happiest if my child gets admission under RTE as she will be able to study in a good school, which otherwise we would not be able to afford. But we also can’t miss an entire academic year if the government process does not pan out properly. That’s why we are already looking at other schools that we can afford and we will have to go for them now because the remaining 75% seats will not be available later,” said Walimbe.
Parents also say that government officials are asking them to take admission in civic schools if the process is delayed. Pushpa Ambhire, another parent who works as cook at people’s places, said, “I want to take a chance under RTE admission so I want to wait. Whenever we go to ask about it we are told that if we do not get admission under RTE we can anyway go to a civic school. If not RTE, I would like to send my son to an affordable good private school instead of a civic school. But with this delay, we will miss the admission season completely.”
Activists say
Also, activists who are helping people get admission under the quota, say last year’s chaos is continuing till now. Sudhir Paranjape, an activist, told mid-day, “This admission process has been a complete mess since last year, especially after the education minister kept changing the parameters. It was so bad that last year’s process is still going on as seats are being allotted to last year’s applicants for admission in the next academic year. So this year’s admission continues to remain a mystery.”
Authorities say
Dinkar Temkar, deputy director at the Directorate of Primary Education who looks after the RTE admission across the state, said, “The process will soon begin. Online admission is conducted only in big cities, where the process is not completely ready. At other places the admissions have already begun at their levels.”
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