Second Anniversary of RTE: Some Highlights SSA

 1 appril-2012

Second Anniversary of RTE: Some Highlights

There has been improvement at the national level since RTE became operative from 01.04.2010

• a.       15 States had notified the State RTE Rules this year the number is 32 .
• Goa and Karnataka are the two States which have yet to notify the RTE Rules.
•   States to institute a Grievance Redressal mechanism to address violations of the RTE Act.
• A document prepared on the occasion – RTE: The 2nd Year ­– gives the status with respect to enrolment indicators, teacher related indicators and infrastructure indicators. 
• As per the report  has been a decline in the annual average dropout rate from 9.1 in 2009-10 to 6.9 in 2010-11.
•  There has been an over 5% decline in drop out rate in Bihar (7.06), Jharkhand (5.30), Nagaland (6.23) and Uttar Pradesh (5.65). But, sadly,
•  some States (Haryana,Mizoram) have also shown an increase in drop out rate.
• The percentage of girls’ enrollment to total enrolment at primary and upper primary level has remained at 48. This is on account of their overall share in the population. However, adverse child sex ratio is a cause of concern.
• Insofar as teachers are concerned, at the national level there is a pupil teacher ratio of 30:1. Time has now come for the country to take up rationalisation of teacher deployment seriously, so that all schools have the requisite number of teachers. This undoubtedly needs both political and administrative will.
• The Central outlays for implementing the RTE-SSA(sarva shiksha abhiyan) programme have practically doubled since 2009-10 (Rs 13,100 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 25,555 crorein 2012-13)  

BAckground of RTE & SSA-sarva shiksha abhiyan


The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), which was passed by the Indian parliament on 4 August 2009,

• describes the modalities of the provision of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.
•  India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010.
• The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools.
•  It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children from poor families (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan).
•  It also prohibits all unrecognized schools from practice, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent for admission.
•  The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education.
• There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.
• The RTE act requires surveys that will monitor all neighbourhoods, identify children requiring education, and set up facilities for providing it.
• A critical development in 2011 has been the decision taken in principle to extend the right to education till Class X (age 16)  and into the preschool age range ^[23]

The Right to Education of persons with disabilities until 18 years of age is laid down under a separate legislation- the Persons with Disabilities Act.

A number of other provisions regarding improvement of school infrastructure, teacher-student ratio and faculty are made in the Act.

The Act provides for a special organization, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, an autonomous body set up in 2007,^[17] to monitor the implementation of the act,^[18] together with Commissions to be set up by the states.


Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (English: The Education for All Movement),

•  is an Indian Government programme aimed at the universalization of elementary education "in a time bound manner",
• as mandated by the 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children of ages 6–14 (estimated to be 205 million in number in 2001) a fundamental right.
• The programme was pioneered by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Its goals of 2011 were to:

• Open new schools in areas which do not have them and to expand existing school infrastructures and maintenance.
• Address inadequate teacher numbers, and provide training a development for existing teachers
• Provide quality elementary education including life skills with a special focus on the education of girls and children with special needs as well as computer education.^[