New Delhi: Right to Education (RTE), the historic act, comes into force today. It is nearly eight years after the Constitution was amended to make education a fundamental right, the government today implemented a historic law to provide free and compulsory education to all children in age group of 6-14 years. With that India now joins a select few countries in the world where education is a fundamental right.
The Finance Commission has provided Rs 25,000 crore to the states for implementation of the Act. As per the government's estimate, there will be a requirement of Rs 1.71 lakh crore in the next five years for implementation of the Act. Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said that the government has arranged the required funds for implementing the law. The Act makes it a right of every child to get education. The Act makes it obligatory for the appropriate governments to ensure that every child gets free elementary education. Further, the Act also mandates that even private educational institutions have to reserve 25 per cent seats for children from weaker sections.
RTE promises to ensure education for all children between 6 and 14, a whopping 22 crore children, out of which nearly 1.1 crore are out of school. However, to make RET a success, the road ahead will be a difficult one. The availability of good teachers has become one of the most crucial crisis points in the Act's promise to make quality education available to all. The other major infrastructure hurdle will be establishing a balance between Centre and State. Several regulatory measures can only be taken after individual inputs from state governments.Also, questions about how the responsibilities, both fiscal and social, will be divided remain unanswered.
