Admission shocker: 32,293 seats in RTE go vacant in Gujarat

In a shocking development, round one of admissions under the Right To Education (RTE) Act has revealed a worrisome situation with nearly 32000 seats across the state going vacant.  While this year, the state government had increased the seats by 75%, of the 125729 applications approved by the District Primary Education Officer (DPEO), only 80199 got admissions.

In April, the state government had announced that they had a target of 105000 seats across the state for RTE admissions as against 60,000 last year. However, with round 1 having only 80199 admissions, the situation seems worrisome as many did not get admissions.

SP Chaudhary, Deputy Director, Primary education said, “The reason for nearly 32000 seats going vacant is that many parents did not fill school as per their choice. For example, a school has five seats and preference for that school is by 15 applicants, only five would get admission. Parents were given many choices for schools this year. Interestingly, nearly 60,000 students got admissions as per their preference.” Students will have to confirm their admission by May 26 failing which the admission will stand cancelled.

Commenting on round 1 of admissions, state education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, “The 80199 students who have got admissions in round 1 will be under strict scrutiny. They will be under our radar now as this time we will not tolerate any fake admissions.”

OFFICER SPEAK

SP Chaudhary, Deputy Director, Primary education said, “The reason for nearly 32000 seats going vacant is that many parents did not fill school as per their choice.