UP School RTE Admission Rules: The Uttar Pradesh government has revised the admission process under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, removing the mandatory requirement of a child's Aadhaar card for school admissions. The move is aimed at simplifying enrolment and reducing hurdles faced by families from disadvantaged sections.
Under the revised framework, the state has restructured the admission process for entry into unaided private schools under the RTE Act. Earlier, Aadhaar cards of the child as well as both parents were mandatory for submitting online applications.
Officials said the change is intended to ensure smoother access to education and prevent genuine beneficiaries from being excluded due to documentation issues.
Commenting on the decision, Additional Chief Secretary (Basic and Secondary Education) Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma told The Times of India, "Our effort is to make ease of living a reality, especially for families genuinely belonging to disadvantaged groups, in keeping with the spirit of the RTE Act."
Aadhaar Required Only For Financial Assistance
According to the fresh directives, Aadhaar will now be required only for the disbursal of financial assistance under the RTE Act. The reimbursement amount will be transferred exclusively to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of parents.
While filling the application form, parents will need to provide details of an Aadhaar-linked bank account. In this process, Aadhaar information of at least one parent will be required, but not that of the child.
Admission Targets And School Capacity
An official order issued to all District Magistrates-who also serve as presidents of the District Education Project Committees-clarifies that admissions under Section 12(1)(c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 will be capped at 25% of the total intake capacity of the entry-level class (pre-primary or Class 1) in unaided private schools within each district.
District-wise annual admission targets will be determined accordingly.
Eligibility Criteria: Age Limits
- The revised guidelines also specify age-based eligibility for different classes:
- Children aged 3 years or above but below 4 years will be eligible for nursery
- Children aged 4 years or above but below 5 years will be eligible for Lower Kindergarten (LKG)
- Children aged 6 to 7 years will be eligible for Class 1
Verification And School Allotment Process
- Document verification will be conducted at the level of the Block Education Officer and the Basic Shiksha Adhikari.
- School allocation will be carried out through an online lottery system in two stages. The first stage involves randomisation, where all verified and approved applications are shuffled digitally and assigned lottery numbers.
- In the second stage, schools will be allotted in batches of 100 applications based on parental preferences and ascending lottery numbers.
- The final allotment list will be approved by the District Magistrate.
