Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Jun 18: After the amendment of Right to Education (RTE) act, implemented with the intention of providing free and mandatory education for children below the age of 14 years, more than 400 seats are lying vacant alone in Dakshina Kannada (DK) district.

After the RTE act was implemented in 2010, 25% of seats were reserved in private schools. In Dakshina Kannada district itself more than 2000 seats were allotted. Thousands of applications were received. There was intense competition to get these seats. However, once the amendment was brought to this act in 2019, the demand for seats has fallen considerably.

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In the present academic year, 479 seats are reserved under RTE in DK. As many as 94 schools were selected for the same. March 15 was the last date for applying for RTE seats. However, so far only 45 students have got the seats and 434 seats are lying vacant. In the first round 38 students got admitted, while in the second round seven students got admitted under RTE. Third round selection is yet to take place. However, as the schools have started a few weeks ago, chances of getting students under RTE are slim.

In the 2021-22 academic year, though 421 seats were available in 96 schools in DK, only 35 students were admitted. Except Mangaluru north (26) and Mangaluru south (9), seats in all other taluks were left vacant.

According to the amendment to the RTE act of 2019, if the child has no government or aided schools within one km radius from its house, then only the child can apply for free education under RTE. So many schools are kept out of RTE. In addition, seat distribution is also reduced considerably. As there was no restriction of this nature before the amendment, the number of seats were more and thousands of applications were received. The selection process used to happen through lottery.