Rajasthan Government takes up RTE admissions of poor children on priority for new academic session

Rajasthan BJP government prioritizes RTE admissions in private schools, facing challenges from schools over fee payments.

The BJP government in Rajasthan has taken up the admissions of children from underprivileged sections in private schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act on priority for the next academic session. The Directorate of Elementary Education has declared the results of lottery for the RTE admissions.

State Education Secretary Krishna Kunal, who conducted the online lottery to determine the order of priority in admissions, said here on Tuesday that over 3.08 lakh children had applied for admissions to 31,857 private schools in the State. Mr. Kunal said 25% of the seats in the private schools would be filled up without fail with the students belonging to weaker sections of society.

The Directorate of Elementary Education has made a provision for RTE admissions to the pre-primary classes and Class 1 in the schools, while fixing the age limit for the two categories. The children from three to four years of age are admitted to pre-primary classes and those between six and seven years are eligible to get admission to Class 1.

The parents will be able to check the status and preference number of their children in all the applied schools on a dedicated portal. Mr. Kunal said the admission process would be completed in three phases beginning on June 7. The first phase will end on July 25, while admissions will be given on the basis of preference in the second phase from July 26 to August 16 and in the third phase from August 17 to August 31.

However, a large number of private schools in the State have expressed reservations about the admission of students to the pre-primary classes, as the category was added in 2023-24 without any clear guidelines for payment of fees by the government for three years until a student is promoted to Class 1.

Swayamsevi Shikshan Sanstha Sangh president L.C. Bhartiya said the private schools would give admissions to children in the pre-primary classes only if they get an assurance from the State government about the payment of the outstanding amount as well as the payment of fees for the new academic session.

The Education Department had last year warned the schools about cancellation of their recognition if they refused to give admissions under the RTE Act.