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DNA Micro Edit: BMC still 'introspecting' reason behind vacant RTE seats

While BMC officials say they are 'introspecting' into what went wrong, activists attribute the low admission rate to two major reasons — technical glitches in the online system and inability of the corporation to communicate with parents.

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Despite high registration this year, 37 per cent of the seats reserved under the Right to Education (RTE) quota in city schools are now lying vacant. Only 2,798 students were enrolled by the end of Saturday, which marked the end of the admission process.

After a lull of almost four years, applications for the RTE quota exceeded the total number of seats this year. The BMC received over 9,000 applications for 7,449 seats across 334 schools in the city. Unfortunately, these numbers failed to translate into admission confirmations.

While BMC officials say they are 'introspecting' into what went wrong, activists attribute the low admission rate to two major reasons — technical glitches in the online system and inability of the corporation to communicate with parents.

Recently, a student from Kurla was allotted a school in Grant Road due to miscalculation of the distance between his house and the school. There were also some students who were not allotted any school at all. The corporation hasn't shown any interest in finding out what happened to the students who did not secure admission despite registering.

While the BMC claims that the vacancies were a result of the high demand of only 'select' schools with the other schools having no takers, figures suggested that this logic was flawed.

Several parents also expressed the inability of schools to reimburse the costs under the act as one of the reasons for low enrollments.

The problem of vacant RTE seats year on year thus deserves affirmative action at various levels — fixing the online system, engaging with parents, sensitising schools — being some that can be taken care of in the course of the 'introspection'.

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