Understanding Right To Education (RTE)

We all have heard about Right To Education (RTE), but do you know what are it’s rules regarding admission to schools?

The RTE is an Indian legislation enacted by the Parliament of India to provide free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010.

Here’s what it means in simplified language.

It means children can now have access to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in any neighbourhood school.

It means that all “aided schools” should have a quota of 25% reserved for students from economically weaker sections (EWS) at the entry level. Every school has to display a notice inviting applications from EWS students for admissions to the 25% RTE quota.

So reach out to your maid, your watchman, your driver, and make them aware of this act. Make sure they take advantage of this act to get their children educated.

Online Admissions
Now you can even apply online for seeking admission through RTE. However, make sure you read all the requirements clearly, as most online applications turn out to be invalid as they fail to furnish the right details/documents.

Most Schools in Mumbai Flout RTE Norms

There are many who are already raising concern that the Right to Education (RTE) Act is not practically helping the majority of students, and now it seems that several clauses under the Act are still to be implemented, in the true sense.

Almost 95 percent of the schools are yet to fulfill the basic infrastructure norms suggested in the Act, as found by a recent survey done by the education department.

RTE also expects schools to make infrastructural changes but then most schools argue that most of the issues are beyond their control. Here are some instances where schools are unable to comply with the norms.

• Infrastructural changes like building toilets, fire exits and elevated ramps for the physically handicapped cannot be undertaken in schools that have really old buildings.
• The need for playgrounds is another aspect which is not possible for all schools considering the space crunch in the city. This seems to be need of the hour, and the government needs to help schools find open spaces in the city.
• Some other schools blame it on lack of funds, as they don’t have extra funds to make infrastructural changes to their schools, it seems aided schools have not received non-salary funds in almost nine years.
• The Act also recommends a Teacher-to-student ratio of 1:30, but most schools are unable to implement that as the education department does not approve hiring of new teachers

Most of these seem to be genuine obstacles, which the schools may not be able to implement on its own, unless it receives help from the government. How the education department intends to solve this problem remains to be seen, as pointing out the schools who have not implemented all the norms is the easier part.

Some parents may not agree with the list here, especially if their kid’s school is not featured here. Such parents are more than welcome to share their comments/views here.

All RTE Admissions In Mumbai To Be Done Online

All RTE activists and parents from across the city will surely be happy with this development. All RTE admissions across Mumbai will now be done online.

With the online process in place, schools will find it difficult to mislead parents concerning admissions. It will be very easy for parents to know which schools are eligible and the number of seats that are available to them.

To make sure those involved in the implementation are trained on the online aspects, BMC will conduct demos for education inspectors and school principals.

Here’s how the entire process is supposed to work!

Schools will have to register online and provide some basic details. Once the registration is done and approved (around a week’s time), the online platform will be open to parents to apply for admissions. The admission schedule will be declared once the registration is complete.

However, even parents will need to be trained on how to use the online medium.

For that reason, the education department will set up help desks across the city to educate parents on how to use technology. If parents face any difficulty in doing online applications, they can always contact the help desks, thus ensuring no student is left out.

Experts worry that parents may not be able to adapt to the online process, and are suggesting that even NGOs be kept well-informed so that they can assist such parents with the online admission process.

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