RTE UP Admission (25% Free Seats in Private Schools)

What is RTE UP Admission?

RTE UP Admission is the Uttar Pradesh implementation of Section 12(1)(c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The Department of Basic Education, known in Uttar Pradesh as Basic Shiksha Vibhag, requires every recognised private unaided school in the state to keep 25 per cent of its entry-level seats for children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups of the neighbourhood, and to teach them free of charge.

The Act makes this a legal right rather than a welfare favour. A school that admits children in nursery or LKG must open a quarter of those seats to the RTE list; a school whose first class is Class 1 must open a quarter of the Class 1 seats. The child then studies free in that school all the way to Class 8, which is where elementary education ends under the Act. Parents do not reapply each year.

Uttar Pradesh runs the whole selection through a dedicated portal at rte25.upsdc.gov.in. Applications, school choices, lottery results, seat allotment and the fee reimbursement paid to schools are all tracked there. The scheme is often searched for locally as "RTE 25 percent admission UP" or as nishulk shiksha, meaning free education.

What "free" covers

• No admission fee, tuition fee, development fee or capitation charge.
• Continued free schooling from the entry class up to Class 8 in that school.
• Reimbursement to the parent for uniform and stationery, paid by the department into the parent's bank account.
• The state reimburses the school a per-child amount fixed by the government.

Who is eligible for RTE UP admission?

Your child can be admitted if:

• The child lives in Uttar Pradesh, in the ward or revenue village that the school serves. RTE is a neighbourhood right, so you can only choose schools from your own area, and the portal filters the list by the address you enter.
• The child is 6 to 7 years old for Class 1, or 3 to 5 years old for pre-primary, counted as on 1 April of the admission year.
• Annual family income is below Rs 1 lakh for the economically weaker section route, proved by an income certificate from the Tehsildar.
• Or the child belongs to a disadvantaged group; Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, a divyang child with a disability certificate, an orphan, a child of a widow, or an HIV-affected child. These categories are recognised on category grounds and are given priority in allotment.

Your child is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The child is already studying in the same or a higher class in a recognised school. RTE seats are entry-level seats only; you cannot use them to move a child sideways from one private school to another.
• The child's age falls outside the class window as on 1 April. The portal blocks the form automatically.
• Family income is above the notified ceiling and the child does not belong to any disadvantaged group category.
• The family lives outside the ward or revenue village of the schools chosen.
• The child has already been allotted an RTE seat in an earlier round and declined to take it. One allotment per child is the rule; parents who skip an allotted seat usually lose the claim in later rounds of the same year.

Government schools, aided schools, minority-managed institutions and residential schools of certain kinds fall outside the 25 per cent obligation. The quota applies to private unaided recognised schools.

What documents are required for RTE UP admission?

Scan each document as a clear PDF or JPG before you start. The portal times out during long uploads, and a blurred income certificate is one of the commonest reasons a verified application is sent back at the Block Education Officer stage.

How to apply for RTE UP admission online

1. Open the official portal at rte25.upsdc.gov.in and choose the Online Application / Student Login link on the home page.
2. Select New Student Registration, then enter the child's district, area type (urban or rural), block or ward, and date of birth. The portal uses the date of birth to decide whether the child can apply for pre-primary or for Class 1.
3. Fill in the child's name, the parent's name, the full residential address, category, annual family income and mobile number.
4. Upload the scanned documents: age proof, residence proof, income certificate, the child's photograph, and any category or disability certificate.
5. Choose your schools from the list the portal shows for your ward or village. Pick as many as the round allows rather than only one, because the lottery works better the wider your choice list.
6. Submit the form and note down the application or registration number shown on screen. Print or screenshot this page.
7. Wait for the lottery on the date announced for that round. Results appear on the portal under the lottery result and seat allotment links.
8. If your child's name is drawn, download the allotment letter and report to the allotted school within the reporting window with the original documents.

How to apply for RTE UP admission offline

1. Visit the Block Education Officer (BEO) office in your block, or the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) office in your district, and ask for help with the RTE 25 application.
2. Carry the original age proof, residence proof and income certificate along with photocopies and two photographs of the child.
3. Ask the office to fill and submit the form on the portal for you, and take a printed acknowledgement carrying the application number.

Many parents also use a Jan Seva Kendra or Common Service Centre to fill the form. These centres may charge a small typing and scanning fee, but no one can charge you for the admission itself.

How to check RTE UP application status and lottery result

1. Open rte25.upsdc.gov.in and go to the student login or lottery result section.
2. Enter your application or registration number and the child's date of birth.
3. The screen shows whether verification at the BEO level is complete, whether the application entered the lottery pool, and which school was allotted.
4. Download the allotment letter and check the reporting last date printed on it.

Verification at the block level happens between the close of applications and the lottery date. An application shown as "rejected at verification" never enters the lottery, so check status before the lottery date rather than after it.

Why RTE UP applications get rejected

• Income certificate is old, missing or above the ceiling. Get a fresh certificate from the Tehsildar; certificates older than the current financial year are frequently rejected.
• Age outside the window as on 1 April for the class chosen.
• Address does not match the ward or village of the schools selected. RTE is neighbourhood-based and a mismatch is fatal to the application.
• Duplicate applications for the same child, sometimes filed by two family members or across two rounds. Duplicates are removed from the lottery.
• Unreadable uploads: dark photographs of documents rather than proper scans.
• Failure to report to the allotted school within the reporting window, which cancels the allotment and returns the seat to the pool.

A rejected application can usually be filed afresh in the next round of the same year with the defect corrected. That is the practical remedy, and it is why applying in round 1 rather than round 3 matters.

Key dates for RTE UP admission

RTE UP admission runs in four rounds each year, typically from January to May. For the 2026-27 session the Department of Basic Education announced round 1 applications from 2 to 16 February 2026 with the lottery on 18 February 2026, round 2 from 21 February to 7 March 2026 with the lottery on 9 March 2026, and round 3 from 12 to 25 March 2026 with the lottery on 27 March 2026. A fourth round follows for seats that remain vacant. Exact dates shift every year, so confirm the current schedule on the portal.

Where to complain about an RTE UP admission problem

• Block Education Officer (BEO) of your block — first stop for verification disputes and for a school refusing an allotted child.
• Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) of your district, the district authority for RTE, with power to act against a school's recognition.
• Jansunwai portal at jansunwai.up.nic.in, the Uttar Pradesh Integrated Grievance Redressal System, where you can file a written complaint and track it with a reference number.
• Help centre link on rte25.upsdc.gov.in for portal and login problems.

RTE admission in Uttar Pradesh is free at every stage. No school, agent or middleman can charge a fee to "get your child's name in the lottery", and the lottery itself is computerised, so no one can influence it.