Mumbai: As many as 5,371 students have been allotted admissions against 7,069 seats under the Right to Education (RTE) lottery round in Mumbai. Parents have been notified via SMS but they should not visit the school to submit documents or secure admissions till further notice as all schools are shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In Mumbai, a total of 14,135 applications were received for 7,069 vacant seats in 367 schools. The number of applications was twice the number of available seats. Mahesh Palkar, the BMC education officer, said, “We received tremendous response for the RTE admissions this year. Due to the overwhelming response, we conducted the lottery round in the last few days despite the decision of the state to shut schools and other activities.”
Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, students belonging to the economically-weaker sections of society can seek free and compulsory elementary education from Class I-VIII in private unaided schools. Around 25 per cent seats in these schools are reserved for such students, seats are allotted through lottery and parents are notified via SMS.
Parents who have not received an SMS about seat allotment can check the status in the ‘application wise detail’ option on the RTE admission website. An official managing RTE admissions said, “We have managed to allot seats to as many students as possible based on the lottery.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are advised not to visit the allotted schools or submit any documents to the verification committee till further notice. Palkar said, “The state has directed all schools and colleges to shut till March 31, 2020. Parents should not visit any school to secure admissions. They can check the RTE admission website for further details and procedures.”
In Maharashtra, over one lakh students have been allotted seats of more than 2.91 lakh applications that were received for the RTE admission against 1.15 lakh vacant seats in 9,331 schools.