Tamil Nadu's RTE Crisis: How Flawed Admissions Leave 18,600 Seats Empty

Anbumani said the state's recent notification inviting applications for admissions has exposed its lack of foresight and planning.

"Under the RTE Act, the government must issue a notification in March, accept applications in April, and complete admissions by May. However, citing a lack of central funding, the Tamil Nadu government delayed the process and released the notification only on October 2," he said.

As a result, he added, the initiative has received applications for less than half the available seats in private high and higher secondary schools.

"This failure punishes the students for the government's negligence," Anbumani remarked.

He further explained that the state should have allowed both students yet to be admitted and those already enrolled in fee-paying schools to apply under the RTE quota.

"Instead, only those already admitted were made eligible, leading to widespread confusion and inequality," he said.

According to data cited by Anbumani, 65,306 applications were received for 45,721 seats in nursery schools, showing strong participation. However, only 16,006 applications were filed for 34,666 seats in high and higher secondary schools, leaving nearly 18,600 seats vacant.

"This disparity clearly shows how high fees and rigid admission rules have kept poor children out of better schools," he said.

The PMK leader also pointed out that the government now faces a situation where over 20,000 excess students have been admitted to nursery schools, for whom the state cannot pay fees, while funds for the unfilled high school seats will remain unused and eventually be returned to the Centre.

"Is this what the DMK government wants--to waste education funds and destroy Tamil Nadu's school system?" he asked.

"Today's Tamil Nadu is not a model state in education; it has become one of the worst-performing states because of misguided policies."

He urged the state government to reopen the admission process under the RTE Act and ensure that all eligible children benefit from the scheme without bureaucratic hurdles.

- IANS