Patna, Feb. 17: The confusion over Right to Education Act provisions has forced some schools to go ahead with the admission process, keeping aside 25 per cent seats so that underprivileged students can be taken in later, once clear instructions come from the authorities.

A number of other schools, however, are still waiting for the final direction from the state government. A section of schools are also waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision as they have filed a petition against the reservation clause.

May Flower will start its admission process on February 27. J.R. Sharma, the director of the school, said: “We are going to have a lottery for the admissions. The parents of children would be present during the lottery. Students would be taken in randomly. For the remaining 25 per cent seats, we would follow whatever the state government orders.”

Gyan Niketan has finished its admission process and like May Flower, it too has left 25 per cent seats vacant.

Principal of Gyan Niketan D.K. Mukherjee said: “We have kept 25 per cent seats for the underprivileged children. Whatever the state government says we will follow.”

Admissions are on at the Patna Central School while the International School has put the process on hold till final order.

Principal of St Karen’s Secondary School K. Kunjachan said: “We have filled up the vacancies in Class I. Twenty-five seats have been reserved for the underprivileged students, as per the directions. As soon as the state government gives its instructions, we shall act accordingly.”

The act is clear, but ways to implement it are not, said sources.

Right to Education Act states that schools have to reserve 25 per cent seats for the underprivileged children in Nursery or standard I, the class the school starts with.

Schools in the state capital, though keen to implement the act, are at sea over how to go about its provisions. Questions over who would bear the expenses on uniforms and tuition are bothering them.

Parents of schoolchildren, meanwhile, are concerned over how the children from underprivileged families adjust with kids from financially well-off families.