PUNE: As many as 10,228 students in Pune district were allotted schools in the first round of admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. A lottery was drawn across the State on Monday, a day after the online application process closed.
The lottery was declared at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Sanskrutik Bhavan, Mangalwar Peth, in Pune. Along with Pune, Nagpur and Mumbai divisions received huge response from students from economically weaker sections (EWS), and there are at least two or more participants for each seat in these divisions.
Admissions are to be completed at the allotted schools from March 14 to 24. Two more similar rounds of admissions will be held to ensure that maximum number of students are benefitted by RTE. “A total of 983 schools with 16,422 vacancies were available in the first round of lottery. Out of the 42,108 applications received in Pune district under RTE, as many as 10,228 students have been allotted schools. Admissions of remaining 31,880 students will be decided in the next two rounds of admission,” sources from Pune Zila Parishad’s Education Department said.
Private schools continue boycott; HC hearing today
Meanwhile, Independent English Schools Association (IESA) in collaboration with Unaided Forum, Private Unaided Schools Management Association (PUSMA), etc, will be continuing their boycott even after the first lottery unless the High Court orders otherwise after its hearing on Tuesday. More than 2,000 schools across the State, including 23 in Pune and 64 in Pimpri-Chinchwad are a part of the boycott.
The decision to boycott the RTE admissions in the State was made after the prolonged displeasure of private schools over the delay in payment of the promised reimbursement against 25 per cent RTE admissions. According to IESA, the government owes the schools around Rs 953 crore, out of which it has reimbursed only Rs 150 crore.
