Few apply for reserved seats in Mumbai schools

Due to low awareness levels among poor children, most of Mumbai schools that have reserved 25% of seats for underprivileged children under the Right to Education (RTE) Act have not received many applications for the quota.

Amita Katyal, principal of Pawar Public School, Kandivli, has implemented the 25% quota from December. But so far the school has received just four applications. “Under the RTE Act, we have started accepting forms from underprivileged children. But we have not received many,” she said.

Principal from a reputed school in Bandra said, “We had few cases where parents from low income groups applied to us through an NGO. Unfortunately, the number is too less; whereas, we received many applications from middle-class and lower middle-class families seeking admission through this quota. If we are unable to fill all the seats under the quota, we will integrate them into the mainstream admission process,” she said.

Director of Podar Jumbo Kids Swati Popat said that they have admitted nearly six underprivileged children in their preschool centres. “Every year we admit few children from underprivileged background and keep their background under wraps. But we have not seen much difference in the number of parents approaching us after the introduction of the RTE Act,” she said.

Recently, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) launched a large-scale community awareness drive called Lok Chetana Abhiyan, which is educating schools, teachers and students across the state on the implementation of the act. However, these are not spreading awareness among the parents of poor kids or out-of-school children who work for a living.

“Our efforts have not yet reached the families of children who are out of school or are extremely poor. We are are facing problems such as illiteracy, extreme poverty, etc,” said Nangare, SSA associate director.