Lok Sabha Question No. 360 (STARRED), answered on 2017-03-27
Subject: Right to Education
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: PRATHAP SIMHA, RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 360 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 TH  MARCH, 2017

## Right to Education

## *360.  SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA: SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the aims and objectives of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and the extent to which it has succeeded in achieving the goals along with the difficulties  being faced by the Government in implementation of the Act and measures taken/proposed to be taken to overcome the difficulties;
- (b) whether the said Act has not been successful in providing quality education and if so, the reasons therefor along with the corrective measures taken/proposed to be taken in this regard;
- (c)  whether  the  said  Act  makes  it  mandatory  for  all  schools  to  have  Government recognition to become stakeholder and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to insist on fixing teachers' accountability in public schools  and  learning  outcome-based    recognition  for  all  schools  and  if  so,    the  details thereof; and
- (e) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to make education  simple and accessible, with a focus on quality rather than infrastructure?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a) to (e):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 360  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  27 TH   MARCH,  2017 REGARDING 'RIGHT TO EDUCATION' ASKED BY SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA AND SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY, MPs:

(a) The  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education  (RTE)  Act,  2009, effective  from  1 st April,  2010,  mandates  that  every  child  of  the  age  of  six  to  fourteen years shall have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till the completion of his or her elementary education. All States and UTs are implementing the RTE Act, 2009 across the country, as per their respective notified State RTE Rules.

In order to assist States and UTs in meeting the objectives of the RTE Act, the framework of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme was revised to conform to the  RTE norms. SSA has  made significant progress in achieving near universal access and equity. As per UDISE 2015-16, enrolment in elementary schools has increased from 18.78 crore in 2009-10 to 19.67 crore children. There has been a significant reduction in the number of out of school children in the 6-14 years age group, from 134.6 lakh in 2005 to  81  lakh  in  2009  and  further  to  61  lakh  in  2014.  The  annual  average  dropout  rate  at primary  level  has  come  down  from  9.11%  in  2009-10  to  4.13%  in  2015-16.    The transition rate  from  primary to upper primary has gone up from 83.53% in 2009-10 to 90.14% in 2015-16. The Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) has improved from 32 in 2009-10 to 24 in 2015-16.

(b) The RTE Act, 2009 lays down the duties of the appropriate Government and the local authority to ensure that good quality elementary education conforming to norms and standards  is  provided;  that  curriculum  and  courses  of  study  are  prescribed  in  a  timely manner, and that teachers are trained. It also provides for putting in place a continuous and comprehensive evaluation of the child's understanding of knowledge and his or her ability to apply the same. In order to focus on quality education, the Central RTE Rules have been amended on 20th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, subjectwise Learning Outcomes. The Learning Outcomes for each class in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up to the elementary stage have, accordingly, been finalized and shared with all States and UTs.  These  would  serve  as  a  guideline  for  States  and  UTs  to  ensure  that  all  children acquire appropriate learning levels.

(c) & (d) Section 18(1) of the RTE Act, 2009 mandates that no school, other than a school  established,  owned  or  controlled  by  the  appropriate  Government  or  appropriate authority, shall, after the commencement of this Act, be established or function, without obtaining  a  certificate  of  recognition  from  such  authority,  by  making  an  application  in such form and manner, as may be prescribed. Further, Section 19 states that no school shall be established or recognised under Section 18 unless it fulfils norms and standards specified in the Schedule to the Act.

Section 24 of the RTE Act, 2009, lays down the duties of a teacher and that a teacher committing default in performance of these duties shall be liable to disciplinary action under the service rules applicable to him or her.

(e) Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of SSA, the State Governments and UT Administrations are supported on several interventions to improve teaching standards at elementary  level,  including  regular  in-service  teachers'  training,  induction  training  for newly  recruited  teachers,  training  of  all  untrained  teachers  to  acquire  professional qualifications  through  Open  Distance  Learning  (ODL)  mode,  recruitment  of  additional teachers for improving pupil-teacher ratios, academic support for teachers through block and cluster resource centres, continuous and comprehensive evaluation system to equip the teacher to measure pupil performance and provide remedial action wherever required, and teacher and school grants for development of appropriate teaching-learning materials, etc.

Additionally,  the  Central  Government,  supports  States  and  UTs  on  early  grade reading,  writing  &  comprehension,  and  early  Mathematics  programmes  through  a  subprogramme  of  SSA  namely  'Padhe  Bharat  Badhe  Bharat'  (PBBB)  in  classes  I  and  II. Further, the Government has launched Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA) programme on 09.07.2015, inter alia, as a sub-component of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), to motivate and engage children of the age group from 6-18 years in Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities.

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