According to the Right to Education quota, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) department of education conducted a series of lotteries for students from economically weaker sections of the society. Their quota was to be 25% of the total number of seats available.
The Current Scenario
After the first and second rounds of lotteries, the BMC has confirmed that 2423 students received admissions. As of yesterday, out of the 3800 eligible candidates for this quota of admissions, 891 students received seats in the third round of the lottery. However, the number of seats that were recorded as allotted came up to 1008, implying that many students have been offered more than just 1 seat.
What This Means
Since the students must choose between different schools that they have been offered, the parents of these children must decide and confirm admission at one school before the 5th of September.
However, approximately 105 seats in this quota have been left vacant in non-state board schools. Some schools have been turning away students, despite them having the right documents to attend classes. According to Nisar Khan, the Education Minister of BMC, if the students are turned away by the officials, parents have the right to make a complaint to the BMC or the school department of education.
Constraints That Are Being Faced
Since the number of RTE quota seats are limited, many students have turned away simply because of lack of vacancies, says Mahesh Palkar, Education Officer of the BMC. Most schools that have higher demand were filled up first, leaving no space for the students from the quota. Another constraint that is being faced is that the BMC must take into account the distance of the school from the student’s home. No student can be placed in a school more than 3 km from where they live.
If not all students can be admitted in this round of the lottery, the fourth round of admission may be held soon.