BENGALURU: Applications for Right to Education (RTE) seats continue to fall short of the available numbers. For the coming academic year, applications are 2,111 short of the total 14,036 available seats.In the top educational districts, there were just 109 applicants for the 406 RTE seats in Dakshina Kannada, nine for 43 seats in Kodagu, three for 129 seats in Chamarajanagar, and 148 for 965 seats in Bidar.RTE activists pointed to the cavity in the system that comes to the fore through a proxy like the applications.
Government rules state that students cannot be admitted to private schools under RTE, should there be a government or aided school in the ward, which has been a hurdle to many applying for the seats. The negative news about the treatment of RTE students by public schools has also contributed to parents being hesitant in applying for the seats, said an education expert.