In an effort to implement the Right To Education Act, the revolutionary law guaranteeing education as a right for children between six and 14 years, the government has reworked the share of the Centre and the state towards the cost of implementing the law.
After pressure by non-Congress-ruled states, the present Centre-state funding ratio, which stands at 55:45, has been changed to 65:35.
This newspaper had first reported on June 9 that several non-Congress-ruled states were seeking a greater Central share and a reduction in their shares in RTE implementation. Among the major states who had demanded more funds were Bihar, UP ,West Bengal and Orissa, as also the BJP-ruled states. “The Central expenditure share has been increased to 65 per cent, while the states’ share reduced to 35 per cent at an EFC meeting held late last evening,” sources said.
The implementation of the act would require Rs 2.07 lakh crores in the next five years.
The act came into force on April 1 this year and has been touted as the showpiece legislation by UPA-II under its inclusive agenda.
Several states had expressed their reservation in implementing RTE unless the Centre was willing to increase its share of the expenditure.
However, the government finally decided to give in to the demands of these states as the law had already faced delays of several years due to political manoeuvring between the Centre and state governments.
In fact, the high-priority legislation’s implementation was so important that human resources development Minister Kapil Sibal held separate meetings with the education ministers of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and the north-eastern states to resolve the issue. Several state governments had demanded that the Centre increase its proposed share from 55 per cent to between 75 and 90 per cent.