8 million children still out of school in RTE Act first year - April 1 is the first anniversary of implementation of RTE Act

New Delhi: The Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act which promises free and compulsory education to all children between the age six to 14, on Friday completed a year since its implementation. However, the fact that more than eight million children are still out of school shows that a lot more needs to be done.

Releasing the RTE report card in the capital on Friday, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said: "It's unfortunate that 81,50,619 children in the age group of six to 14 are still out of school. We have to bring all those children to school."

The report which analyzed the overall primary education scenario of the country, said that the total enrollment in the primary level in 2009-10 was 13,34,05,581 while in the upper primary level it was 5,44,67,415.

The percentage of girls enrolled in the primary level was 48.46 percent while in the upper primary level it was 48.12 percent.

The total number of elementary schools, government and aided, in 2009-10 was 11,20,968. And the total number of teachers was 44,77,429.

"21 percent teachers were found to be without professional qualification and nine percent schools were with a single teacher," Sibal said, citing the report.

"It was found that 508,000 additional teachers are required and in 2010 we approved the recruitment of 455,000 teachers," he added.

According to Sibal, the real problem now is no longer access to education but its quality.

"Access to education is no longer the real problem now, it's quality of education and for that we have set parameters under the RTE Act like infrastructure in schools, pupil-teacher ratio and professionally qualified teachers," he said.

The student classroom ratio across the country was found to 32:1. As many as 93 percent schools were found to have drinking water facility, 59 percent with girls toilet and 47 percent with ramps for the benefit of physically disadvantaged children.

Some of the not so encouraging figures came as far as the notification of rules in the states was concerned - 15 states had notified the rules and only 11 had constituted state commissions for protection of child rights, meant to monitor implementation of the Act.

"However the level of commitment in the states is good. This is just the first year, things will be even better next year," Sibal said.

Sounding excited about the latest census data, Sibal went on to say that India will be completely literate by the year 2020.

"The Millenium Development Goal says that India should achieve literacy rate of 72 percent by 2015 but we have already gone ahead of that figure. The census datasays that our literacy rate is 74.4 percent," he said.

"What is even more encouraging is that the female literacy rate has gone up by 12 percent," he added.

source:http://www.indiaedunews.net/Today/8_million_children_still_out_of_school_in_RTE_Act_first_year__-_April_1_is_the_first_anniversary_of_implementation_of_RTE_Act_13789/

International Women’s Day: Invest in education of girls!

There is no tool more effective for development and poverty reduction than the education of girls. Today, on International Women’s Day, EI demands greater investment in and political commitment to achieving this goal.

In many countries around the world, basic education is not accessible to millions of people. Of the 796 million illiterate people, women make up two thirds. Girls and women face particular obstacles that keep them out of education: Violence on the way to school, in and around schools; early pregnancy and early marriage; vulnerability to the HIV epidemic, as well as discrimination based on gender stereotypes in the wider community and at schools; school fees, which may mean that parents send their boys and not their girls to school; and lack of gender sensitive quality education especially in rural areas.

EI Deputy General Secretary Jan Eastman said: “This early discrimination contributes fundamentally to the disadvantages that women are faced with in so many areas of life. Conversely, investing in girls’ education not only gives women and girls the tools to stand up against discrimination and violence, it is also a precondition for democracy and development. It raises economic productivity, lowers infant and maternal mortality, and leads to considerable improvements in families’ health and nutrition.”

A report released last week by the Education For All Fast Track Initiative shows the progress that girls have made not only in enrolling in school but also in completing their education. It highlights the most effective tools to achieve this progress: The mobilisation of communities to send girls to school, targeted financial support for girls to cover for school fees and textbook costs, and the creation of school health and feeding programs. “Education to at least secondary level is crucial for the empowerment of girls,” said Eastman.

Using the slogan “It is a right! Make it right!”, women’s and girls’ right to education is the theme of this year’s Global Action Week from 2 to 8 May 2011. Under the heading “The Big Story” millions of people around the world will share stories on women’s and girls’ education. The main aim of the Global Action Week will be to urge leaders to make specific policy pledges which must be followed through and implemented. EI advocates for greater investment in the education of girls, today and every other day of the year.

source:http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=1549&theme=gender&country=global

DU to come up with new hostel complex for girls

New Delhi: In what comes as welcome news for female students from cities outside Delhi who would like to join the Delhi University (DU), the varsity has decided to come up with a 1500 seat hostel complex.

The complex would be the largest to have been built so far and would be situated about 2 kilometers away from the North Campus in the Dhakka are near Mukherjee Nagar.

The accommodation that is to be built would be exclusively for female students who are pursuing postgraduation or studying in colleges at the Delhi University.

A special task force was set up by DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh last week to accelerate the work ok the accommodation project so that the new hostel rooms are ready for allotment by July this year when the new academic session at the varsity commences.

The task force, headed by proctor professor H.P. Singh, would begin its work on Thursday.

The vice chancellor Dinesh Singh said that he had been aware of the problems faced by girl students of the university from other cities who had to face trouble while looking for accommodation at the time of admissions at DU.

"The new hostel accommodation that is being built will have seats for postgraduation students as well as undergraduates and some seats will also be reserved for students from the north-eastern region," he stated.

He further added, "I have made a special task force that will ensure that the project is completed in time for the July admissions. This task force will also be responsible for the allocation procedure of the hostel rooms and coming up with other details such as eligibility. This hostel accommodation is going to be a benchmark."

Students had always suffered due to a dearth of hostel accommodation at DU. Currently, there are only 16 hostels for postgraduate students at the university, out of which four are solely for women.

Two of these hostels, namely Ambedkar-Ganguly Students House for Women and International Students' House for Women are located in Dhakka. Students at these hostels also have a bus facility for commuting to the campus and back.

There are 11 hostels for undergraduate students in individual colleges and eight of them have facilities for women. However, there are no separate hostel accommodation facilities for only girls provided by the university.

The situation had been worse during admissions last year as most hostels for undergraduate had been taken up for the Commonwealth Games delegates. For this reason, students had been asked to vacate their rooms for the duration of the games.

The construction for the new hostel complex had begun in the year 2009. the complex would include two hostels, a facility block, two dining halls and the residence of the warden and the provost.

The Rajiv Gandhi Girls Hostel would be made in the color schemes of grey and yellow and will have 400 double-seat rooms for the accommodation of students pursuing postgraduation at the university.

From the 400 rooms, 250 will be allotted to students from the northeastern regions because the ministry of tribal affairs and the North-East Council had contributed Rs.23.33 crore for their construction.

The Undergraduate Hostel for Girls will have 350 rooms. These are being made under the expansion plans of the university due to the other backward classes (OBC) reservation.

The hostel rooms at both hostels will include wardrobes and storage spaces for every inmate along with a shelf-cum-study table. Apart from two dining halls, the complex will have arched roofs and glass work for natural light. The facility centre at the complex would include an internet caf�, a gymnasium, a TV lounge, a sick room, reception and an administration block.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Delhi/DU_to_come_up_with_new_hostel_complex_for_girls_13576/

Government will universalize secondary education - Patil

New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil on Monday said that after Right to Education for primary education, the government is committed to universalizingsecondary education.

"My government is committed to universalizingsecondary education through the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. Girls' hostels are being set up in each of the 3,500 educationally backward blocks in the country to bring secondary education within the reach of girls," the president said addressing a joint sitting of both houses of parliament on the first day of the budget session.

"The Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act is another step in my government's approach to right-based governance. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been aligned to the implementation of this act. It has been scaled up to universalizeelementary education with a universal mid-day meal programme to improve both enrolment and retention," she said in her hour-long speech.

Focusing on adult literacy, the president said that government's flagship Saakshar Bharat programme will be spread to more districts.

"The Saakshar Bharat programme is designed to improve adult literacy, especially among the disadvantaged sections of society. By 2012, it will extend to all 365 districts that have poor adult female literacy levels," she said.

Patil added that the government is taking steps to effect changes in the Apprenticeship Act "to introduce a large number of modular training courses, and to make skills training bankable".

The Apprenticeship Act requires firms to reserve 50 percent of new jobs forapprentices trained by them.

"Our country has a huge advantage in terms of being a young nation. Our young people have to be invested with skills if we are to reap the demographic dividend," she added.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Government_will_universalize_secondary_education_-_Patil_13558/