Right to education becomes legal

The Right to Education Act, 2009 can finally see the light of the day with HRD minister Kapil Sibal giving a go-ahead to implementation of the new law by signing the document of notification on February 12. The move has ended six months of speculation. Come April 1, education for all will become a reality as the Act will be by enforced by the central governemnt.

While the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has cited resolving the issue of financing the project as reason for procrastinating over the notification. However, it is not clear if the funding pattern between the Centre and the states has been resolved as yet.

After enactment of the Act, right to education has become a fundament al right and hence it becomes the responsibility of Central government to ensure fund to the state governments for its implementation. As per the projection of the HRD ministry, the total cost of implementation of RTE will be Rs 1.71 lakh crore.
 
The sources in the Ministry of HRD are of the opinion that the ambitious project Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which is in place fits the bill as a vehicle for the implementation of the historic legislation. Besides, Additional requirements will be only in terms of getting more teachers and building more classrooms.
 
Now that the notification has been formally issued the state governments will be asked make it mandatory for the schools in their territory to reserve 25% seats for the poor children in the neighbourhood. The HRD ministry has already formulated model rules for states to implement RTE. The rules for Union territories are on the cards.