Lucknow, Feb. 17 -- Uttar Pradesh has received a record number of applications this year for free admission to 25 per cent seats in private schools under the Right to Education Act (RTE). A total of 261,501 applications were received from all 75 districts in the state in the first phase of the 2026-27 academic session, compared to 132,446 in the first phase of the previous 2025-26 academic session.
In the district-wise data, Lucknow ranked first with 18,107 applications, while Varanasi ranked second with 17,476 applications. Agra (13,627), Kanpur Nagar (13,546), Bulandshahr (10,831), Meerut (9,145), Moradabad (9,028), and Aligarh (8,567) also ranked among the top districts. Districts like Shravasti (125), Chitrakoot (211), Hamirpur (220), ...