LUCKNOW, Feb. 18 -- More than a quarter million families from poor and deprived sections across Uttar Pradesh have rushed to secure free seats for their children in private schools, pushing RTE applications to a near-record high in the very first phase of admissions for 2026-27. The basic education department received 2,61,501 applications in round one this year, against 1,32,446 in the same phase last year, according to state government data. Last year, over 1.06 lakh children from poor and deprived families were enrolled in private schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act against a total allotment of 1.85 lakh seats. Citing reasons for the surge in RTE applications, Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma, additional chief secretary, basic and secondary education, said, "The entire process has been simplified to make it easy for the parents to apply online. Hence, we saw a good response in the first round." Officials said that revised rules now allow parents to complete the online application using the Aadhaar card of just one parent, dropping the earlier requirement of submitting cards for both parents and the child. Among districts, Lucknow led with 18,107 applications, followed by Varanasi 17,476, Agra 13,627, Kanpur City 13,546, Bulandshahr 10,831, Meerut 9,145 and Moradabad 9,028. htc...