MUMBAI, April 23 -- Parents across the state are facing growing difficulty in securing admission for their children under the Right To Education (RTE) quota, as minor errors and document mismatches have led to rejections despite the applications being selected in the lottery. The situation has left many families anxious, and only 47,896 of the 1,05,811 allotted students have confirmed their admissions so far. Activists said that the slow pace of admissions had become a major concern. Many parents told HT that even minor mistakes in documents-such as incomplete names, mismatch in income certificates, and differences between application details and submitted documents-were leading to rejection at verification centres. In Govandi, for instance, Mohammednafis Shaikh, parent of a Class 1 student, saw his daughter's admission rejected even after selection only because his own name was incomplete in one document. "We filled all the mandatory information in the online application," said Shaikh. His problem is echoed by many parents who say that if they approach the scrutiny desk later, officials ask them why they did not check everything in the acknowledgement sent to them, which is "the window of correction before the lottery draw happens". "But in the acknowledgement, we are unable to see all the information that was filled in the online application," said Shaikh. "Most of us took help from cybercafe staffers, as we don't know how to fill forms online." Shaikh is now at a loose end, unable to see if his child has got admission or not. Officials, however, said that verification was necessary to maintain transparency. Nisar Khan, deputy education officer in the BMC and in-charge of RTE admissions, said, "The officer at the education desk said that parents must ensure that all details are correctly filled and documents match exactly. A mismatch in data cannot be accepted. Also, even if parents get help from cybercafes, they should still approach online official help centres dedicated to helping parents." Parents, on their part, argue that many of these issues are minor and could be resolved more easily if the authorities provided better support. RTE activist Sudhir Paranjpe said that a lack of awareness was adding to the problem. "Parents receive SMS notifications but many do not check detailed updates on the RTE portal. As a result, even selected candidates miss deadlines or fail to complete the required steps," he said. The authorities have now extended the last date for admission confirmation to April 30, urging parents to visit centres with proper documents. Parents are now demanding a more flexible approach, especially for small errors, and better guidance at verification centres. They believe that unless these issues are addressed, the purpose of the RTE scheme-to provide equal education opportunities-will not be fully achieved....