For the 25 % seats reserved under the RTE or Right to Education act in the private schools, the Directorate of Matriculation Schools has received over 81000 applications. It is known that the online application process has been simplified.
It is now expected that around 1 lakh applications would be received in this 2018 because over a week time is still there. In the year 2017, RTE admissions made huge noises and was conducted in 3 phases. As many as 95,858 students were admitted under this quota.
Madurai district grabbed many eyeballs last year when highest RTE applications were filed from this district. In this year also Madurai district is on top with 6100 applications filed till Wednesday, 9th May 2018. In the second place is Chennai district with 5566 applications and Vellore district is third with 5129 applications.
Economically and socially disadvantaged sections are given great preference is known. It is now said that atleast 25 % seats in LKG and class 1 in private schools needs to be reserved for children belonging to the above mentioned backgrounds. This is according to the RTE act.
Some officials hinted that around one lakh seats under the quota are available in as many as 10000 private schools in Tamil Nadu. CBSE schools are not included in this.
To simplify the admission process as well as to bring transparency, RTE admissions were made online in the year 2017 and it made many heads turn.
Mr. Pradeep Yadav who is the school education secretary expressed his thoughts and said CBSE schools do not follow RTE Act due to early admission schedule etc. He also spoke about how CBSE schools were informed and they did not respond. Action would be taken against CBSE schools if they do not respond. He later highlighted about how CBSE schools are supposed to follow RTE Act.
In this 2018, many volunteers and associations played their part and sensitised parents regarding RTE admissions. This was confirmed by none other than Mr. Arumainathan president of Tamil Nadu Students Parents Welfare Association.
Private schools are highly benefited by the RTE admissions as vacant seats could be filled by RTE admissions. According to the director of matriculation schools Mr. Kanappan, many efforts taken by school education department this year led to increase in the RTE applications this year.
In all the private schools and banners in CEO and DEO offices the information regarding the availability of seats are displayed. Till 18th May 2018 parents could apply under RTE quota.