Right to Education

The Gujarat government’s education department has announced the Right to Education (RTE) admission process for the academic year 2024-25. However, this announcement comes with a growing concern of significant decline in the available seats.

Compared to last year’s around 83,000 seats, only 43,800 seats are available for this academic year, registering a staggering decrease of around 50%.

This decline is attributed to a new rule implemented in June 2023, mandating that only six-year-olds can be admitted to Class 1. Consequently, many five-year-olds who would have previously entered Class 1 are now enrolled in Balvatika-pre primary programs.

This sharp decline in seats raises serious concerns about potential exclusion, particularly for underprivileged children who rely heavily on the RTE quota for access to quality education.

Looking at last year’s admission figures, where over 61,000 children secured RTE seats, there’s a possibility that nearly 18,000 children might be left out this year with the reduced seat availability.

Ahmedabad, typically seeing the highest influx of Gujarat’s RTE admissions, has witnessed a significant drop from 14,323 seats last year to just 7,973 seats for the upcoming academic year.

New RTE rule opposed

This situation has sparked calls for revising the current RTE admission rules. A concerned mass is urging the government to consider the interests of underprivileged children, particularly those from poor and middle-class families.

Instead of giving admission on 25% of the remaining seats after RTE admission, there is a demand that admission should be given on 25% of the total sanctioned seats of class 1.

The faction has argued that this change would ensure an equivalent distribution of seats for the students.

As private schools anyways are reluctant towards RTE admissions, they will benefit from this move seeing reduced admissions of students through RTE, alleged the factions.

RTE application dates announced

Under the Right to Education Act, 2009 of the Central government, 25% seats in private schools are given free admission to children from 13 sections of different underprivileged categories.

The online common centralised admission process for RTE is conducted every year by the primary education department of the state government.

Amidst the concerns, the online application process for RTE admissions will commence on Mar 14, and continue until Mar 26 on the RTE Gujarat portal.

According to the current RTE admission rules, 25% of the total sanctioned seats in class 1 are given for admission in the second year, excluding the RTE admissions that took place last year.

Last year the total number of RTE seats was 82,820. In the first round, 53,903 children were admitted. and by the end of the three rounds, more than 61,000 children had been admitted.

As per the new two-year rule, parents applying for RTE admissions must submit income certificates and other supporting documents along with their income tax return (ITR) document online.

Parents who do not file ITRs can submit a self-declaration stating they are not liable for income tax.

The income limit for RTE admissions remains ₹1.50 lakh for urban areas and ₹1.20 lakh for rural areas.

Also read:

Gujarat HC dismisses pleas challenging age limit for school admission

Ahmedabad’s private schools house 348 unqualified teaching staff, admits govt