BENGALURU: Almost half of the seats under Right to Education Act remained vacant after the first round of admissions. As against 7,636 seats distributed for admissions in the first round, only about 3,300 applied for admissions to the schools allotted. These students were eligible for admissions after their names figured in the computerised lottery system on May 6. Another round of lottery will be held for the vacant seats on May 25, said Commissioner for Public Instruction Reju MT.
Several activists had earlier opposed the amendment to Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act 2012, deeming it ‘not people-friendly’. With the number of schools eligible to take admissions under RTE coming down, students who wanted to avail free and compulsory education at private schools have now less options to choose from. While 2,617 private schools and 15,103 aided schools were enlisted after thorough mapping by the department (which ensured there was no government or aided schools in the vicinity of the eligible private school), the number of aspirants had also seen a dip. While it was 2.38 lakh the previous year, only 16,563 eligible students applied for the academic year 2019-20.
While a High Court judgment is reserved for a PIL that was filed by the RTE Students and Parents’ Association, Bengaluru, challenging the state government’s amendments to the RTE, Reju said in case the judgement goes in favour of the petitioners, new applications would be invited for the schools that were omitted so far.
Parents have also objected to just two rounds of lottery this year, as opposed to three in the previous years. One of the petitioners, C Suresh Kumar, an RTE activist in Bengaluru, told The New Indian Express that the association had objected to aided schools being added in RTE.“But for a few aided schools in the state, the remaining are in a terrible condition. Also, there are instances where parents are sent away by private schools, making space for students who do not come under RTE,” he said about the gap in the students selected and admitted under RTE.