More Than 16,000 RTE Quota Seats Are Left Vacant

Around 16,000 RTE (Right To Education) based seats are left behind lying vacant in Bangalore schools which were reserved for unprivileged children. For about 16,656 seats reserved under 25% RTE quota in Bangalore south, only 2384 applications have been received.

In a similar instance, for more than 4000 seats in Bangalore North, only 1868 applications have been received by the BEO's. As per the RTE provisions given by the Karnataka government on April 28, 2012, all unprivileged children falling under 25% quota have to be provided admission regardless of the admission period.

According to the Right To Education (RTE) Act Section 10 of the extended dates of admission which has been specified as 3 months. The rules also states if admissions are done late, the child will be given special training to complete the studies. The education officers liable for introducing RTE expressed that they know that large number of seats will go vacant but they have received no further instructions from the government.

25th of May 2012 was fixed as the last date to submit application forms under the 25% RTE quota which indicates that application forms will not be given after that. The Karnataka government had fixed June 10, 2012 as the deadline for schools to complete admissions for 25% seats which has been now extended to June 18, 2012.

Due to the lack of clear instructions from the State Government, the schools are left with the only choice to fill 25% seats with general quota students, as the academic session for 2012 have already started. A school principal revealed that they have got 12 children admitted under RTE quota.

However, the Primary and secondary Education Minister expressed that the state government has yet not taken a call on the RTE quota seats left vacant. Later the decision shall be taken after the decision with the education officers.