Admissions under RTE in Tamil Nadu private schools increased this year

As the enrollment process for the students seeking admissions under Rights to Education (RTE) in private schools was over, this year the registration of children under the scheme has increased to about 78,000.

The RTE is being implemented in the state from 2013-14 ensuring 25 percent reservation for students belonging to the disadvantaged groups and weaker sections in all private non-minority self-financing schools at entry level such as LKG and Class 1.

A senior official from the School Education Department said that till this academic year more than 7.1 lakh students were admitted in private schools under RTE scheme since it was introduced in the state during 2013-14.

"In 2020-2021, the number of children admitted under RTE was 70,379", he said adding "this year the total number of enrollment stands at 82,766.

However, the official said after scrutinization, more than 78,000 children have been found eligible this academic year to get admitted under RTE. "As admission orders were given to about 68,000, the exact figure will emerge once the total number of students got admitted", he added.

Pointing out that the RTE admissions have started from July 5 to August 13, the official said the number of seats available under RTE for this year was about 1.07 lakh.

Stating that if the eligible applications are more than 25 percent of intake capacity, a random selection method shall be adopted, he said about 200 schools across the State have got RTE applications more than the available seats.

"In addition, the applications have been scrutinized to remove multiple enrollment from a single parent", he said adding "all the admission processes were conducted online to ensure transparency".

The official also pointed out that Tiruvallur district has the most number of 558 private schools, which provide the highest number of little over 7,000 RTE admissions, followed by Chennai, which has 438 institutions offering over 5,000 seats.

He pointed out that this year the RTE online admissions should have started during June. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the online enrolment began only by July,” he added. "A sum of Rs 469.63 crore has been allotted towards reimbursement of fees to the schools for the RTE admission in 2020-21 by the government", he added.