Education
RTE admissions don’t even fill 50% of mandated seats
Despite a government mandate, RTE admissions have a dismal performance. An IIM Ahmedabad report states that unclear rules and guidelines were a major hindrance. While Delhi has the best performance at 44.61% RTE seat utilisation, Maharashtra ranks the lowest with only 17.9% quota being used. Low awa
The RTE mandate was going to change the way they were going to get education – with everyone else. But it seems that it will take a more to change the way education is delivered in India. Embarrassing reasons like slow admission process, lack of awareness and reluctance of schools are the main culprits. At the close of the 2015 admission season, of the 22.9 lakh seats available under the 25% quota for socially and economically disadvantaged children, only 3.46 lakh (15%) were utilised.
The mandate, though well intentioned, failed to breach even the half way mark, say experts. Delhi did best and used 44.61% spots with deserving students who could attend a private unaided non-minority school. Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand followed suit. Maharashtra had the most dismal showing with only 28,028 seats of the 1.56 lakh seats being filled.
A report by the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and other agencies found that states had unclear rules and guidelines to implement Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which mandates 25% reservation for children from economically and socially disadvantaged sections in private unaided non-minority schools.
Ambrish Dongre of the Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research, said, "Shortage of funds also contributed to lack of whole hearted efforts from the states. Out of Rs 1,466 crore requested by states, only Rs 250 crore was approved by the Centre. Only Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand got assistance from the Centre, leaving others states in the lurch."
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