PUNE: All rounds of admission to fill the 25% quota for students from economically-deprived section of society under the Right To Education (RTE) Act have been completed. As things stand, as many as 51,849 seats are yet to be filled despite the long-drawn process.

Activists have pointed out that lack of awareness among parents belonging to the disadvantaged category, lack of a competent grievance redressal cell, and an arduous process of obtaining eligibility documents are some of the reasons for not achieving the 100% admission target.

Komalbai, who works as a maid in Pashan has two of her children living in the city. “I don’t know anything about RTE. My elder daughter is in class I and my son in KG. When I tried to admit my son to an aided school, but they refused admission. So I have admitted him in a Zilla Parishad school.”

While lack of awareness is one issue, another problem is that the migrant population may not have required documents. “We have a voter ID and Aadhaar card but we don’t have the income certificate. The agent asked for a lot of money for it. Hence, we just left it at that,” said

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Matin Mujawar of Shikshan Hakka Manch said, “Awareness is the first step. The government needs to conduct massive awareness programmes about the RTE Act in slums and other areas. The polio drive is a success because of the massive awareness campaign. On similar lines, there should be an awareness drive about RTE Act so that everybody knows what needs to be done so that their children can get admission.”

Grievance redressal is another major problem that is hampering even NGOs and other activists working to help disadvantaged students get admission. The education department had announced a grievance redressal department with a helpline number. However, none of it was implemented.

“Currently, just one person talks to people with grievances. When a parent complains, this person would tell them to go to the school. Why would the school entertain the parents? Even letters from the education officer were hardly of any use because there were no follow ups,” said Mukund Kirdat, an education activist.

Education commissioner Vishal Solanki said, “We are working on various aspects of RTE admission. We would improve the present system from next year onward.”