Chennai: Almost two weeks after the commencement of admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act to private matriculation schools this year, the school education department has received only 18,000 applications—20% of the 80,000 seats available across the state.
Reasons for Slow Progress
Some officials said the slow progress is due to last year's disruption—already admitted students were merely shifted to the RTE quota and no fresh applications were invited. Others are optimistic that applications would increase in the last week. 'The department received 1.58 lakh applications in 2024-25 and 1.1 lakh in 2023-24—half of which were received in the last week. There is still time,' said an official.
Admission Timeline
The government had commenced the admission process on April 2, asking schools to calculate and publish the number of seats within two weeks. Applications have been collected since April 20. The eligible candidates' list will be published on May 20, and admissions will be made through a draw of lots on May 22. Director of private schools, Suganya, said she would instruct education officers to increase awareness and expedite the process on Monday to avoid changes to the schedule.
Impact of Election Work
School heads are optimistic that the process will pick up pace after the vote counting process on May 4. 'Except the birth certificate, students have to reach out to the revenue department for all other certificates for RTE admissions. This used to be done in a day, but is now taking longer due to poll work,' said M Arumugam, president of the Federation of TN Private Schools.
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