Indore: More than 4,000 seats reserved under the Right to Education (RTE) Act in private schools in Indore district remain vacant even after two rounds of admissions, even though the district received nearly 13,000 applications for the 2026-27 academic session.Education officials have begun a third round of counseling, which will allow eligible applicants to update their school preferences through July 8.According to official data from the education department, 12,936 applications were submitted for admission to 9,029 RTE seats in private schools in the district. However, so far only 5,040 students have gained admission, leaving almost 44 per cent of the reserved places unfilled.The third phase will not accept new applications. Only children whose registration and document verification have been completed previously may participate. This includes applicants who were not assigned a school in the previous two rounds or those who received assignments but did not complete the admissions process.The online draw for the third round will take place on July 10. Students assigned to schools will be required to complete reporting and admission procedures between July 11 and July 20.Officials attribute the large number of vacant seats to multiple factors. “During document verification, as many as 2,717 applications were rejected due to invalid income certificates, discrepancies in caste certificates or errors in rental documents,” said Indore district project coordinator Sanjay Mishra.In the first round, 4,662 students were allotted schools and 4,615 completed admissions, with the most sought-after private schools filling their RTE quota almost immediately.The second round, however, witnessed a sharp drop in response. Although 1,204 students received assignments, only 425 showed up to their assigned schools and completed the admission process. The remaining seats have now moved on to the third round.Education officials have urged eligible parents to carefully review their school preferences within the stipulated time frame to improve their chances of gaining admission. The third round is expected to fill a significant number of the remaining vacancies before the admission process concludes later this month.