In its Stocktaking Report 2012-13, the RTE Forum, a Delhi-based national coalition of over 10,000 NGOs, educationists and social activists, has strongly criticised the Central and state governments for “slow progress” in implementation of the RTE Act, 2009. While acknowledging that over the past four years, government outlays for elementary education have increased, more teacher posts and infrastructure sanctioned and administrative changes initiated, the report says that these “efforts have been sporadic and without the required quality and rigour”.
To improve implementation of the RTE Act countrywide, the RTE Forum has made several valuable recommendations. Among them:
• The Central government should convene an urgent meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) chaired by the prime minister and attended by chief ministers of all states to chart a national roadmap for effective implementation of the RTE Act.
• The Centre should initiate regular reviews by NDC in the form of a white paper publishing the performance of all state governments in implementing RTE Act.
• The Central and state governments should enhance elementary education budgets to deliver commitments made in the Act.
• The Centre should urgently initiate a process through Centre-state consultative mechanisms for ownership of RTE by states, as education is a concurrent list subject.
• States should provide special remedial education training for out-of-school children.
• State governments should urgently review school curriculums and textbooks.
• States should increase public and community awareness about the RTE Act as well as encourage education department officials tasked with its implementation.
• State governments need to initiate and deepen the systems of bottom-up planning, build capacities of community-based structures — school management committees (SMCs) and panchayats.
• States should institute procedures for child mapping and tracking, notification of local authorities, define out-of-school children and streamline the functioning of SMCs within three months.
• States should set up grievance redressal mechanisms, especially at block and district levels, define procedures for complaints, support NCPCR/SCPCRs to enable them to fulfill their mandate and also support the panchayati raj system in its role as the local authority.
• State governments should immediately fill teacher vacancies, restructure teacher training systems, and develop well- defined teachers’ cadres.
• Centre and states need to restructure education departments to converge with SSA, teacher training, define systems of accountability, fill vacancies in school inspection, finance and administrative departments.
• Centre should amend the RTE Act to extend the right to education to all children under six and aged 14-18 years.