Days after the applicants were allotted the private schools in Haryana under the RTE Act, the Directorate of Elementary Education has warned the private schools of strict action, including withdrawal of recognition, in case the admissions were denied without a valid reason.
In a letter issued to the private schools, the directorate stated that a total of 21,752 applicants had been allotted to private schools across the state for the academic year 2026-27. The admission process must be completed by May 9. However, it has come to the Department’s notice that several grievances have been received from parents/guardians through the Helpline number, E-mail, and other modes in which the complainants have alleged that some schools are delaying admissions or denying admissions on untenable grounds not permissible under the RTE Act.
As per the directorate, such actions violate the RTE Act and are viewed with utmost seriousness. To ensure transparency and real-time tracking of admissions under the RTE, a designated portal has been launched to track each of the 21,752 allotted applicants. Each allotted private school has been directed to update the status of each allotted student as admission accepted or rejected, and if the admission is rejected, the school must give an appropriate reason for rejection on the portal.
The private schools have been told to ensure that the reasons for rejection are as per RTE guidelines and relevant government orders and not arbitrary. The schools have also been told to update the admission status of each allotted student on a daily basis on the portal.
The non-compliance or arbitrary rejection of admissions without valid, document-backed reasons will be viewed seriously and action will be taken under the relevant provisions of the RTE Act.
Meanwhile, Kulbhushan Sharma, president of the National Independent Schools Alliance, said, “The issue related to neighbourhood criteria seems to be the reason behind the majority of rejection of admissions. The department earlier had issued guidelines regarding the admission in which the notice/portal framework reflected a combined selection of 0-1 km and 1-3 km radius simultaneously; however on April 24 a clarification was issued, in which the schools were allowed to take a call on the admissions related to the applicants falling under 1-3 km. However, the parents had already applied for the admissions before the clarification was issued.”
“It is mandatory to provide admission to eligible children residing within 0-1 km distance of the school in 25 per cent reserved seats in Class I and entry level classes, but the schools can ‘voluntarily’ admit eligible children living within a radius of 1-3 km. A large number of the applicants fall under the category of 1-3 km radius. The department should stick to the provisions under the Act. There should have been clear directions related to the neighbourhood criteria and the condition of voluntary admission should have been avoided. In case the schools deny admissions, the parents will make complaints, and the department is responsible for the situation,” he added.
