A mother walks with her child to a school in Patna on Monday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, April 4: The World Cup and holidays over, it was back to business at most schools in the city today.

For some, it was their first school day. They arrived at the schools with their parents. But the excitement of a new session was visible on the face of the “older” students. They were excited to meet their friends and teachers and got introduced to new books.

“We got to know each other today. We introduced ourselves to the teachers,” said Shweta, a student of St Joseph’s Convent High School.

She added: “We were also given the syllabus and it was explained to us. We also told our friends how we had spent our holidays. Most of us were very excited about India winning the World Cup.”

The parents, whose wards went to school for the first time, were equally excited.

Ramesh, whose son has been admitted to Nursery in Patna Central School, said: “It is very exciting to see my son go to school.”

Most of the students of Nursery and Class I shared their classrooms with the students from underprivileged background, admitted according to the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

According to the provisions of the act, all schools have to reserve 25 per cent of the seats for students of financially weak backgrounds.

Some schools like DAV BSEB and St Michael’s High School are yet to complete the admission process according to RTE.

A.K. Keshari, the chief co-ordinator of RPS Group of Educational Institutions, said: “All schools under the RPS group will open tomorrow. We are about to complete the admission process for the underprivileged students. Those admitted will turn up tomorrow.”

Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh had instructed all schools to complete their admission procedure of the seats falling under 25 per cent reservation for underprivileged children by March 31 this year.

Nine schools reported that they had completed the admission procedure within the deadline. The schools included Radiant International School, Baldwin Academy and International School.

Singh held a review meeting with the school authorities on March 27. Chairperson of Bihar State Child Rights Protection Commission, Nisha Jha, with some members of the commission and a district education officer were present in the meeting convened by the district magistrate.