Amid the pandemic, when families from underprivileged backgrounds are facing a financial crisis and could benefit from free education for their children under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, thousands of students across the state are at disadvantage. With crores of rupees as reimbursement pending from the government, schools are filling very few of these seats.

According to the data of 2021-2022, a total 9,432 schools in Maharashtra are supposed to provide admissions under the RTE Act, on 96,684 reserved seats. However, merely 23,114 students were admitted, leaving 73,570 vacant seats, which is roughly 76 per cent.