20% of Gujarat's underprivileged students deprived admissions under RTE in 2019-20

The Gujarat state government revealed in the assembly that while 1,94,783 underprivileged students were eligible for admission in private schools under the Right to Education Act during 2019 and 2020, 40,530 or about 20 per cent of them were deprived of this right. Education Minister Bhupendra Chudasma made the revelation in a written reply to a series of questions by Congress MLAs.

In the academic year 2019-20, 1,04,045 students were eligible for admissions under the RTE, of which only 82,726 were admitted denying 21,319 students of their admissions. Likewise, in 2020-21, of the 90,738 students entitled for admissions under the quota, only 71,527 were enrolled, depriving 19,211 students. The admission vacancies under the RTE were as per the 25% quota of the total available seats in private schools.

Admission in the RTE quota for the next academic years have already begun in other states. Congress has alleged that the government has given free rein to private schools to levy high fees and ignore the mandatory RTE quota depriving poor students of their educational rights.