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/

'Lack of political will hampering implementation of RTE Act'

New Delhi: A year after the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the dream of universal education still remains a distant reality for many children due to the lack of political will in the states, experts said on Thursday.

According to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the chief monitoring body of the Act's implementation, only 13 states have notified their state rules.

"Without notification, how can the states implement the RTE Act? Notification of the rules means a financial commitment on behalf of the states, liketeachers' salaries and the like. For this there has to be a political commitment," NCPCR chairperson Shantha Sinha said.

Taking stock of the progress of the RTE Act, she added, "There are drawbacks, including lack of human resources but with political commitment, we can skip timelines to make sure the RTE reaches every child in this country." 

A report taking stock of implementation of RTE in India was presented by the RTE Forum - a coalition of over 25 national civil society organizations and over 10,000 grass roots networks - at the conference.

According to the report, there were several provisions within the Act that had to be fulfilled within the first year, but not much progress has been made.

The report said that while the NCPCR has been mandated with monitoring the implementation of the Act, the body lacks the capacity to do justice.

"The overall shortage of teachers is estimated to be 14 lakh and states like Uttar Pradesh have a huge shortfall of over two lakh vacancies, which have not been filled up due to lack of resources," the report said.

Eight states have less than 50 percent teachers who are professionally qualified, it added.

"Many teachers are not aware about the Act. If we want to get rid of archaic practices like corporal punishment, urgent attention must be given to school based training for teachers," said Ambrish Rai, spokesperson of RTE Forum.

The report said that the school management committees (SMCs), with three-quarter representation from the community, are the first line complaint mechanisms under the RTE Act. However, these have not been formed in most states. 

"This leaves parents and children without a visible place to go if their educational rights are violated," the report said.

The Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into force from April 1, 2010. According to it, the right to education will be accorded the same legal status as the right to life as provided by the Indian Constitution. Every child in the age group of 6-14 years will be provided 8 years of elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his/her neighborhood.

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