HC directs state, BMC to complete RTE admissions

Mumbai Mirror: Mumbai: Friday, 11 July 2014.

A recent high court order has directed the BMC and the state education department to ensure that the admission process for children eligible under the RTE quota be completed at the earliest. The court has also directed the state to submit an affidavit with all the data related to the online RTE admissions before July 14.

In the order dated July 8, the bench has directed the BMC as well as the education department to take adequate action to implement the Act. The BMC has also been directed to submit all pertinent information including the total number of schools participating in the online admission process, date of admissions given by the schools and directions issued by the state government for effectively implementing the admission process.

The order came after a PIL was filed by NGO Anudanit Shiksha Bachao Samiti in the first week of July on behalf of parents whose children were denied admission under the Act.

Citing numerous reasons, a majority of the 312 schools under the RTE had refused to admit the students even though the BMC had given them allotment letters after the online admission process. "As per information procured under the RTI and newspaper reports, only 1015 out of 8223 students have been granted admission under the RTE," said V A Sugdare, a lawyer representing the NGO.

According to the statistics available with the BMC, of the total 312 schools which are a part of RTE admissions, only 25 of them have completed admitting students as per their intake capacity. Sudhir Paranjape, the activist leading the NGO, said, "There are over 300 children in who are yet to be accommodated in the schools they have allotment letters for. These students will lose out on classes if the admission process is not completed."

The BMC has collected all the information and will submit its report on Friday. "We have also sent out a final show-cause notice to the schools who have not updated the admission list. We will then take action against the schools that have refused to comply," said Sambhavi Jogi, a BMC education officer. The next hearing is scheduled to be held on July 15.