Nearly 1 lakh students secure RTE admission in UP this year

LUCKNOW: Nearly one lakh children from underprivileged sections of the society this year secured admissions under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, in 12,563 unaided private schools across UP where they will receive free and quality education from the beginning up to class 8. The increase in the number of admissions assumes importance as it has come amid the Covid pandemic.

The admissions were for kids in 3-6 age group (less than 7 as on April 1, 2021) in pre-primary to class 1. Under the RTE policy, 25 per cent seats in these schools are reserved for economically weaker sections. A record 2.55 lakh applications were received for admissions under RTE this year. The admission process opened on March 2 and ended on July 15, 2021.

More than 1.53 lakh applications were verified and eventually 99,146 children were allotted seats in various private schools. This is the best conversion rate so far in the state since 2017 when the RTE lottery system shifted online. The selection is based on the lottery system set up by the state government.

While Lucknow topped the list with 12,770 children securing admissions under RTE, Varanasi stood second with 8,655 children getting admission and Kanpur Nagar was third with 6,078 admissions. In Aligarh, 4,864 students secured admission and in Moradabad 4,202 students got admission.

“It was my dream to enrol my six-year-old son Aaroh in a good school. However, it was just a dream as I had no means to turn it into a reality. My dream came true recently when my son secured admission in a reputed school in Lucknow under Right to Education [RTE 12.1.(c)] policy in this year’s (2021) lottery,” said Ankit Singh, 26, a gardener and earns Rs 4,000-5,000 per month.

Singh, who hails from Sitapur district, moved to Lucknow three years back so that his children could study in a good school. However, the pandemic and corona-induced lockdown derailed his plans.

“I wasn’t getting regular work. I exhausted my savings but I did not return to my village. I stayed back in Lucknow so that both my children could get good education. I am happy that my son is getting a chance to study in a good school.

He is too young to understand the importance of good education, but I will provide him with all the facilities. I even bought a smartphone for him so that he could attend his online classes,” said Singh.

This year, six-year-old Antara’s Singh life changed forever. She lost both her parents to Covid within a week.

For a few days, Antara and her elder brother lived with their landlord in Kanpur and later moved with a local guardian. In April, Aditya Pandey, an office assistant, who looks after RTE lottery and allotments in Kanpur, and a few others from the department, enrolled Antara’s name for RTE 12.1.(c) lottery.

Early this week, Antara secured admission in a reputed school in Kanpur. She received her admission letter from UP minister of state for higher education Neelima Katiyar in the presence of district education officer Pawan Kumar Tiwari.

Like Antara and Aaroh, all other students who got admission come from most underprivileged section and RTE 12.1 (C) will provide them with free and quality education in private schools across the state.

Director general, school education, Anamika Singh said, “With a robust online RTE portal incorporating end-to-end process integration and widespread awareness campaign in 2021, we could receive a large number of applications from diverse geographies resulting in record 1 lakh lottery allocations.”