06 April,2014 07:58 AM IST | | Chetna Sadadekar
April 9 onward, BMC will set up centres to admit children from lower economic backgrounds, in private schools
At last, the rights of children from lower economic backgrounds, who are entitled to avail of 25 per cent reservation under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, can be realised.
Parents, with an annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh can now admit their children to private unaided schools. Representational picture
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally determined 30 centres in the city which will provide online admissions to the children so they could be admitted to private unaided schools. The online admissions will start from April 9 and will go up till April 30.
Children, whose parents have an annual income of less than R1,00,000 per annum, are eligible for admissions. Parents must log on to www.rtemaharashtra.in and create a log-in ID, and apply for the schools within a radius of one km of their residence. In case no school falls within this area, they can choose one or more schools within a 3-km radius. The procedure
is applicable for schools having SSC, CBSE and ICSE boards registered with the BMC.
Earlier, the Director of Education had stated that the government resolution for implementation of 25 per cent reservation in private unaided schools would be issued by February 15, 2014. Schools openly failed to give consent to the online process and did not register, due to which the process did not start on March 24, as was declared.
Mohan Adtani, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Education), said, "Admissions will start from April 9 and children we select will be given admission in private unaided schools. The scheme and software belongs to the state government - we are simply implementing them at the city level and have developed 30 centres for the procedure."
However, the state government has still not decided whether it will incur the cost of children in junior and senior kindergarten, too. A senior civic official, said, "The decision on this matter has not reached the BMC. The State government is yet to decide on the matter."
