The BMC education department issued letters to some Mumbai private schools after they failed to admit students under the 25 percent Right to Education (RTE) quota for the academic year 2020-21. The department recently sent out written orders asking those schools to comply with the admission guidelines under the RTE act and grant admissions to students before September 15, which is the last date to do so.

An official from BMC education dept said, “It has been found that despite several instructions and repeated reminders, these schools have not complied with the norms with respect to the RTE act. Complaints have been received against such schools from parents and local activists. We have thus asked them to grant admissions to eligible students at the earliest.” As per sources, about three to four schools were sent such letters.

This year, the civic body is yet to complete admissions under the 25 percent quota in Mumbai. Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, schools have been asked to grant provisional admissions to students whose names have appeared in the lotteries. Even with several relaxations, very few students have been able to confirm their admissions so far.

A total of 14,135 applications were made against 7,069 available seats under the quota in Mumbai, this year. Of these only 2,682 seats have been confirmed their admissions and 2,846 students have been provisionally admitted.

Sudhir Paranjape, an activist from the Anudanit Shiksha Bachao Samiti, an NGO working for the disadvantaged sections said that with the entire admission process moving online, parents are having a tough time. “In addition to this, several parents who have applied for the admissions have got no allocation yet. Since so many seats lie vacant every year so we have demanded the government to allot nearby schools to these students. A letter has gone on behalf of over 2,000 parents in the city to the state government. We demand that at least in aided schools across the state, the RTE act be implemented entirely,” he added.

Source: Hindustan Times

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