Madurai registers record 70% admission under RTE Act

MADURAI: The number of admissions under Right to Education (RTE) in Tamil Nadu has gone up from 49,864 in 2013-14 to 74,127 this year, announced school education minister K C Veeramani in the current Assembly session. This is nearly a 50% jump over the last year.
Officials in charge of RTE admissions said Chennai and Coimbatore were the big contributors. Madurai district has also seen a drastic improvement with nearly 70% enrolment under RTE this year.
Officials and child rights activists said the increase in numbers was encouraging and attributed it to increased awareness campaigns in target areas and regular threats issued to schools warning them against turning away children from underprivileged backgrounds seeking admission under the 25% reservation clause of the Right To Free and Compulsory Education Act.
Meanwhile, the district educational department has performed well this academic year to improve the number of students under RTE quota. While only 50% of the total seats were filled last year, efforts taken by the department have borne fruit and the number has improved to about 70 per cent.
The last-minute intensity shown by officials has yielded fruition as they considerably increased the enrolment. In the last one month alone a total of 560 seats from private schools were filled under the RTE quota. RTE Act says that all private schools have to allocate 25% of the seats to poor students free of cost. The priority should be provided to students hailing from three km radius. However, schools run by minorities do not come under the Act.
At the end of May there were only 1,153 students admitted under the quota. It was half the target of filling 100% seats. The officials who wanted to utilize the quota the most, extended the last day for RTE admission, which was supposed to be over by May 30, to one more month. The extension ended on a positive note as they were able to push 560 more poor children into private schools.
According to officials, there are 192 private schools in Madurai district. Among the schools seven have been closed in the last one year. The 21 minority institutions and one residential school were also among the 192 schools which do not falling under purview of the Act. The Act would be applicable in the rest of 161 schools.
Almost all the schools have provided seats under RTE this year. Compared to last year this year has been good. Last year, 11 schools did not provide seats. They were given special attention to extract seats, officials from the inspector of matriculation schools' office said.
Govinda Rajan, inspector of matriculation schools, Madurai said the district administration has been very keen on improving the number of students admitted under RTE quota. They were very stern in implementing the Act. They kept in touch with private schools and ensured that they fill the seats.
Officials said that awareness on RTE is yet to reach the people in rural areas. They could have admitted more children had they received applications. They would improve the admission percentage more in the time to come.