Education ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal met Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Friday and demanded additional funds from the Centre to implement the Right to Education Act.
The state ministers pointed out that the implementation of the act would require Rs 1.71 lakh crores in the next five years. These states are currently giving 45 per cent share for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme which would be the main vehicle for implementation of RTE Act. Sources said that the state governments want the Centre to increase its share of funds under the scheme.
Official sources stated that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar would require the major share of the estimated Rs 1.71 lakh crores for implementation of the act. While 24 per cent of this fund would be required for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar will need 17 per cent followed by West Bengal at eight per cent.
The education ministers of these states also discussed the problem of scarcity of trained teachers. It was also decided that the two-year diploma in primary education offered by Ignou for Bihar and UP teachers would be suitably revised to address the concerns on quality. The HRD ministry sources stated that Mr Sibal was informed that these states had drafted the state rules for implementing the RTE Act and these would be notified soon.
Bihar HRD minister Hari Narayan Singh said the academic authority for the state as per RTE Act would be the State Council for Education Research and Training. The state has already prepared the curriculum and re-written books for class 1, Class 3 and Class 5.
Basic Education Minister for Uttar Pradesh Dharam Singh Saini highlighted the problem of teachers training. West Bengal Minister for School Education Partho Dey stressed on the need for recruiting qualified and trained elementary school teachers.
Earlier, chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had expressed inability to fund the implementation of the Act. West Bengal has also raised the issue of scarcity of funds.