Noida: Supreme Court on Tuesday reiterated guidelines requiring private schools to admit at least 25% children from weaker and disadvantaged sections under the Right to Education Act (RTE), but gaps on the ground are wide.
Last year, one in six RTE seats in Noida and Ghaziabad went vacant, highlighting persistent failures both of schools and the govt mechanism overseeing to translate the mandate into actual enrolments. Of the 26,571 RTE seats available across the two districts, only 10,570 were allotted over multiple counselling rounds. Just 6,223 children eventually took admission, leaving 4,347 seats. In Noida, of the 13,056 seats reserved under RTE, only 4,267 were allotted, but only 2,866 students took admission.
In Ghaziabad, 6,303 of the total 13,515 seats were allotted, and 3,357 students finally took admission.Year after year, RTE vacancies have persisted, if not widened. In Noida alone, around 3,000 RTE seats remained vacant in 2024, with Ghaziabad recording a comparable shortfall last year.Education officials said the distance criterion under RTE continues to be the main bottleneck, limiting parents’ ability to choose schools beyond a prescribed radius from their homes. In many localities, officials said, eligible private schools within the permitted distance either have limited capacity or are not preferred by parents, resulting in low uptake. Under the RTE Act, the distance criterion mandates that primary schools (classes I-V) should be within 1 km and upper primary schools (classes VI-VIII) within 3 km of a child’s residence. Parents have also complained that some private schools discourage admissions under the quota.“In 2025, my daughter’s Aadhaar cards were not made. As a matter of fact, I could not fill out her application form. But for my son, a private school was allocated. When we went to the school for admission, the principal refused to accept the form, stating that I did not have a relevant income certificate. I raised the complaint with the education department, and the officials took measures to get my son enrolled. The process took longer to resolve,” Ravi, a resident of Muradnagar who works as a daily wager, told TOI.On Tuesday, a SC bench of Justices P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar said the RTE Act envisages elementary education for all children in a shared institutional space without differentiating them on the basis of caste, class, gender or economic status. “It makes it possible, normatively and structurally, for the child of a multi-millionaire or even of a Judge of the Supreme Court of India to sit in the same classroom and at the same bench as the child of an autorickshaw driver or a street vendor.
This is the way Section 12 seeks to concretise the constitutional principle of fraternity alongside equality and liberty,” the order said.To address procedural hurdles, the UP govt relaxed documentation norms earlier this year, removing the requirement for children to have Aadhaar cards at the application stage. Officials said the move was expected to benefit migrant families and daily wage earners. However, financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per student would continue to be routed only through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of parents via direct benefit transfer.Authorities said enforcement of the 25% quota in unaided private schools would be closely monitored. In an order issued on Jan 8 to district magistrates, it directed that district-wise annual admission targets be fixed up to 25% of the intake capacity of Class I or pre-primary in every private unaided school, as mandated under the RTE Act.“Eligibility is clearly defined for children from disadvantaged and weaker sections, including those belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, children with disabilities, orphans, and children of parents suffering from serious illnesses.
Children from families holding Antyodaya cards, receiving pensions, or having an annual income of up to Rs 1 lakh are also eligible, subject to certificates from competent authorities,” said a senior state education department official.As per the recent guidelines, the entire application process will remain online, with guardians required to enter Aadhaar details and upload relevant documents. However, the RTE admission dates are yet to be declared for the upcoming academic session.
Last year, the online application window opened in Dec. “We are checking the portal almost every day. Last year, the process started in Dec, but this time there is no update yet.
Many of us want clarity so that we can prepare documents and choose nearby schools,” said Sunita Devi, a domestic worker from Sector 62, whose daughter is eligible under the quota.Another parent, Ramesh Kumar from Bhangel, said, “The RTE seat is our only hope to get a good private school for our child. Delay in dates creates anxiety, especially for families like ours who cannot afford regular fees.”
