Parents in Maharashtra will now be able to participate in the process to decide the school admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which is a first.
The state's School Education Department has formed a committee to modify the present RTE admissions process, and the group has officially invited opinions from parents.
The move, which aims to streamline RTE admissions, comes as thousands of seats under the RTE Act remain unfilled, The Indian Express reports. The goal is to make RTE admissions more transparent, simple, and inclusive, allowing more students to benefit from the service.
According to officials, feedback from parents would assist them in understanding the challenges that may be causing admissions not to be confirmed on allotted seats, leaving a significant void.
Sharad Gosavi, the Director of Primary Education, has published a circular soliciting feedback from parents. According to the circular, suggestions provided by parents on the RTE portal should be no more than 100 words long, and instead of remarks on specific schools or management, they should include input on the system to improve its effectiveness.
Under the RTE Act, 25 per cent of private school places are earmarked for children from economically and socially disadvantaged homes.
The schools' fees are reimbursed by the government. These admissions are handled centrally by the office of the director of primary education.
Parents of children seeking school admissions apply through the RTE portal and are then allocated places by lottery. Parents are then given days to confirm admissions to the allotted seats.
This year, 3,05,152 applications were received for 1,09,087 RTE seats in 8,863 private and unaided schools in Maharashtra.
After the lottery, 1,01,967 students were chosen, but after three rounds of admissions, only 86,442 confirmed their acceptance, leaving 22,645 seats open.
