With 5,138 seats in 669 matriculation schools, the Tiruvallur education district has the highest number of seats available under the Right to Education Act for the 2017-18 academic year.
The admissions will also be done online in Tamil Nadu this year and will be open from April 20 through the website of the School Education Department.
The facility to have online counters for RTE admissions is already in place in New Delhi and Maharashtra.
Under the RTE Act, 25% of the seats at the entry level classes in schools should be earmarked for students from the weaker sections of the society.
The School Education Department has separately provided details about the seats available under the RTE Act in matriculation schools as well as nursery schools in each district online in a move to help parents identify institutions in their neighbourhood.
The Chennai and Kancheepuram educational districts follow Tiruvallur with 4,914 seats and 4,042 seats which have been set aside under the RTE Act.
e-seva centres
To use the online service, parents can approach the e-seva centres in their districts or can seek help from the District Education Offices. Parents who apply for admissions online will receive a confirmation with an SMS, an official from the Education Department said.
While the online counters for RTE applications will be kept open till May 18, parents will be able to go to the educational institutions in person and apply, as well as submit RTE forms.
The move to take the application process partly online for RTE seats has been welcomed by educationists and activists many of whom have been appealing to the government for the past few years to make the process more transparent and fair.
“Making the RTE applications available online will hopefully streamline the process. There have been several instances where people have gone to schools with recommendations and money to buy seats set aside under the RTE Act, and we hope this will come down,” said K.R. Nandhakumar, State general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Nursery, Primary and Matriculation Schools Association.
The State government, in a statement, said that ₹125 crore has been allotted for students who were admitted under the RTE Act in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and who continue studying in schools across the State.
The settlements will reach the educational institutions soon, the statement added.
Published - April 12, 2017 12:32 am IST
