After a prolonged period of political and legal discussions, Tamil Nadu has initiated the admission process for the Right to Education (RTE) Act. This development comes after the Central government released the state’s due share of reimbursement funds earlier this month, in compliance with the directives from both the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court.
The school education department in Tamil Nadu has already received over 81,000 applications, with more than 7,000 schools registering to offer seats for the 2025-2026 academic year. The Union government allocated approximately ₹700 crore for this purpose.
Typically, RTE admissions begin in mid-April and conclude by May. However, the 2025-26 admission cycle was postponed due to the Centre’s delay in releasing the state’s allocated funds. The admission process officially began in Tamil Nadu on October 9.
The situation escalated on June 10 when the High Court urged the Centre to consider decoupling RTE reimbursements from the broader Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme. This directive came after the state government, led by the DMK, argued that the Centre was imposing conditions and penalizing the state for not adopting the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 and for not signing any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the PM SHRI Schools scheme.
When the Centre did not adhere to the court’s directive promptly, the state filed a special leave petition with the Supreme Court. On September 1, the apex court issued a notice to the Centre, requesting a response within four weeks. The state contended that both the Centre and the state share responsibilities for funding education under the RTE Act and that withholding funds was unjust.
In response, the Union Education Ministry held a supplementary Project Approval Board (PAB) meeting on August 22. During this meeting, approximately ₹700 crore was sanctioned for Tamil Nadu under the RTE components: ₹362 crore for 2024-25 and ₹352 crore for 2025-26.
B. Chandra Mohan, the principal secretary of Tamil Nadu’s school education department, reported on Friday that a total of 81,927 students have applied for LKG admissions, and 89 students have applied for Class I admissions, fulfilling the 25% reservation mandated by the RTE Act. The final phase of the admission process is scheduled for October 30. Children eligible for admission in schools without a draw of lots will be admitted on this date. On October 31, admissions will be finalized for schools where the number of applicants exceeds the available seats, using a transparent, random lottery system conducted in the presence of the Head of the Institution and parents. “Following this process, all selected children will be officially tagged under the RTE quota in the EMIS portal, ensuring their inclusion in the academic roll for the 2025–26 academic year,” the senior official added.