NAGPUR: It’s another record breaking year for school admissions in Nagpur district under Right To Education (RTE) Act quota as available seats got oversubscribed by 300%, even though the deadline for applying is on Sunday midnight. Premchand Raut, coordinator for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and a key member of the team monitoring RTE admissions in district, said, “We have received almost 23,500 applications this year for just under 7,000 seats. Considering there is still one more day remaining for applications to be submitted, I am sure the numbers will increase.”

The March 11 deadline is the latest extension announced a few days ago. If there are no more extensions, RTE lottery is likely to be held within a week. The lottery process is completely software-based and is conducted at the education department’s head office in Pune. It is held separately for each district and the number of rounds depend on vacant seat status.

While the RTE process continues, there are some private unaided schools who have boycotted the entire process because of non-payment RTE bills. While the boycott is pan-Maharashtra with various school associations refusing to participate, in Nagpur a separate CBSE schools association too has taken a similar call. Under the banner of Nagpur CBSE Private School Management Association, 23 institutes have informed the education department they won’t be taking in any students under RTE.

Local education officials did not want to comment officially as the “issue is a state-level” one, but expressed confidence that ultimately the schools will come around. A senior official in the primary education department said, “The government always pays up. I agree there is a delay but that is not to be construed as refusal to pay. Dues are being cleared regularly and soon entire bills of schools will be paid.”

