Tamil Nadu: 50% rise in number of applications for RTE admissions in private schools

CHENNAI: The number of applications for admissions under Right to Education (RTE) Act has risen by 50% for the academic year 2022-23 when compared to last year. As on May 20, 1.28 lakh applications for RTE quota seats had been received, which is 45,000 more when compared to the previous year.
“With five more days to go for the last date to apply, we expect about 1.4 lakh applications this year. The number of admissions is also likely to increase when compared to last year,” an official from the school education department said. Last year, 56,687 students got admissions under this quota.
Under the Act, private schools need to reserve 25% of their seats at entry level for children hailing from economically and socially disadvantaged sections.
There are 96,000 seats available in more than 8,200 private schools for RTE quota this year. The school education department gave one month time to apply for RTE seats, and the last date has now been extended to May 25.
“The lot system for schools which received more applications than the number of available seats will be held on May 30. If the school is not an exam centre, the lot will be conducted in the morning, and if it is an exam centre, a lot system will be conducted in the afternoon,” an official said.
“Due to reverse migration to government schools last year, many small, medium level matriculation schools have applied for their own students studying in pre-KG through a portal to retain them next year. It is one of the main reasons for the increase in the number of applications,” said K Murthy, state convener, Right to Education Forum- Tamil Nadu.
K R Nandakumar, general secretary, Tamil Nadu nursery, primary, matriculation higher secondary and CBSE schools association, said the private schools have created awareness on RTE admissions. He said return to normalcy was the main reason behind the increase in the number of applications for the RTE seats.