Pune: Maharashtra Government Halts RTE Admissions Process for 2024-25 Academic Year
Pune, 10th May 2024: The Ministry of School Education of the Government of Maharashtra has temporarily halted the ongoing admissions process for the academic year 2024-25 for the 25 % reserved seats under the Right to Education Act (RTE). The online application process for admitting children was in progress, but now this admission process will revert to its previous method, leaving parents awaiting further instructions.
On 9th February, the Maharashtra State Government issued a notification regarding changes to the admission process under the RTE. However, the Bombay High Court stayed this notification on Monday (6th May). The Ministry of School Education has resumed the admissions process following the court order. As part of this action, it has been announced on the RTE website that the online application link has been temporarily closed.
The Ministry of School Education conducts an online admission process for these seats every year. However, according to a government notification issued at the beginning of February, this year, in addition to private schools, government and aided schools were also included in the registration process. As a result, 69,361 parents have applied so far for the 8,86,411 reserved seats in 76,053 schools across the state.
Normally, three to three and a half lakh applications are processed in the admission process each year. However, this year there was a lesser response as the state government included government and aided schools. Now, under this process, admission pathways to private English schools will once again be open for children from economically disadvantaged sections. The government notification initially threatened to block thousands of students from entering private schools, prompting an appeal in court against it. During a recent hearing on a Public Interest Litigation regarding this matter, the Bombay High Court stayed the notification.
