Right to Education to start with deficit budget

NEW DELHI - The Right to Education (RTE) Act, which aims to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to Class 8, may not start with a bang as the scheme is facing several hurdles, including a shortage of around Rs.7,000 crore (Rs.70 billion), in the first year of implementation.

A senior official of the human resource development (HRD) ministry told IANS: “Yes, there are some hiccups. The ministry is set to roll out the act with a deficit budget. For the RTE, the ministry has Rs.15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) in the first year.”

The scheme is set to get operationalised from April 1.

The officer who wished to stay anonymous said going by the ministry estimate, the scheme needs nearly Rs.34,000 crore (Rs.340 bn) every year for a period of five years.

The funding pattern of this scheme will be similar to the one already in practice for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). “The central and state (excluding northeastern states) funding pattern is 55: 45 for RTE, similar to our SSA scheme,” the official added.

Going by the SSA norm, the central government will also bear 90 percent of the cost of the scheme in all the eight northeastern states.

This means, if all states cooperate with their part of the fund, then the scheme will get about Rs.27,000 crore (Rs 270 bn) including the Rs.15,000 crore (Rs. 150 bn) with the HRD ministry - for its implementation in the first year, leaving a shortage of at least Rs.7,000 crore (Rs.70 bn) in the very first year.

“It’s fact that finance is a concern for us,” the official confessed.

The act, which was passed by parliament last year, seeks to achieve 10 broad objectives such as free and compulsory education for all students in the 6-14 age group, quality education, focus on social responsibility like quota in private schools and the obligation of teachers and de-bureaucratisation of admissions.

The act also speaks of neighbourhood schools, which will largely benefit students from the underprivileged sections of society.

The HRD ministry authorities also said some states, like Orissa and Bihar, have expressed their concern over the required fund for the implementation of the act.

Though on March 3, the Orissa government decided to implement the scheme from April 1, it has written to the central government demanding that the state should be considered as a special category state like those in northeast India. The state needs Rs.16,000 crore (Rs. 160 bn) for implementing the act over five years.

HRD ministry officials said currently 8.1 million eligible students in the 6-14 age group are out of school and the RTE Act aims to take them back to the classroom.

“One of the main objectives of the act will be to bring these students back to the class room. This is a challenge but every one has to work on this,” said the official adding that teachers training in another challenge for the central and state government while implementing the scheme.

(Prashant K. Nanda can be contacted at prashant.n@ians.in)