Lok Sabha Question No. 1094 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-17
Subject: Lack of Amenities in Schools
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: DEVJI MANSINGRAM PATEL, SUNIL KUMAR SINGH, A.T. (NANA) PATIL

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1094 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## Lack of Amenities in Schools

## †1094 SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL: SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SINGH: SHIR A.T. NANA PATIL:

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

(a) whether it is a fact that according to Right to Education Forum, the provisions of law have been completely implemented only in 9.08 per cent schools, 10 percent schools have only one teacher, half of the schools lack safe drinking water and separate toilets for girls and if so, the details thereof;

(b)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  after  introduction  of  the  Right  to  Education  Act  more  than  two  lakh Government  schools  have  been  closed  during  the  last  few  years  due  to  decrease  in  the  number  of students;

(c) if so, the details thereof, State-wise and district-wise;

(d) whether the Government is searching ways for privatization of public school system;

(e) if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the concrete steps taken by the Government for complete implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009 especially in Maharashtra?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a)  :        A  report  on  'Status  of  Implementation  of  The  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 (2016-17)' has been released by the Right to Education Forum, a nongovernmental  organization.  The  Department  of  School  Education  &  Literacy,  Ministry  of  Human Resource Development was not associated with this Report.

As per Unified District  Information System for Education (UDISE) 2016-17, the number of Government schools at elementary level has increased from 10.48 lakh in 2009-10 to 10.73 lakh in 2016-17 and 98.67% of Government Schools have drinking water facilities. With the construction/reconstruction  of  4,17,796  toilets  in  2,61,400  government  elementary  and  secondary schools within one year upto 15.08.2015 under Swachh Vidyalaya initiative, all Government schools were provided access to gender segregated toilets for girls and boys. Further, RTE Act 2009, in its Schedule, lays down the Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) norms for primary and upper primary schools at

30:1 and 35:1 respectively. As per UDISE 2016-17, the PTR at national level for primary and upper primary schools is 22:1 and 18:1 respectively which is better than the norms of the RTE Act 2009.

The  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA)  was  designated  as  the vehicle  to  support  States  and  UTs  in  implementing  the  provisions  of  RTE  Act,  2009.   Since  the inception of SSA in 2001, sanction has been given for opening of 3.64 lakh new elementary schools, for  construction  of  3,12,747  school  buildings,  18,89,689  additional  classrooms,    2,40,564  drinking water facilities and 10,63,164 school toilets.  States and UTs have reported opening up of 3.59 lakh new  elementary  schools and construction of 2,95,382 school buildings, 18,08,452 additional classrooms, 2.35 lakh drinking water facilities and 10,11,518 toilets as on 30.09.2018.

(b) & (c): Section  6  of  the  RTE  Act  mandates  that  the  appropriate  governments  and  local authorities  shall  establish,  within  the  area  or  limits  of  a  neighbourhood,  a  school,  where  it  is  not already established, within a period of three years from the commencement of the Act. In this regard, Central rules provides for the establishment of primary schools and upper primary schools within a distance of one kilometer and three kilometer of the neighbourhood, respectively.

National  Institute  of  Education  Planning  and  Administration  (NIEPA)  has  been collecting  the  school  education  data,  including  data  on  number  of  Government  schools  imparting education at elementaty level.  As per U-DISE - 2016-17 (provisional), there are a total of  10.73 lakh Government schools at elementary level in the country. These schools have provided access to schools to  more  than  97% habitations. As per Annual Work Plan & Budget 2018-19 (AWP&B) data of all States  and  UTs,  97.15%  habitations  are  served  at  Primary  Schools  within  a  radius  of  1  km,  and 96.49% habitations are served by Upper Primary Schools within a radius of 3km.  The remaining 3% habitations are largely remote and sparsely populated which do not qualify for opening of schools as per neighbourhood norms. All these habitations are being covered through residential schools, Hostels and provision of Transport and Escort Facility.  The statement showing details on State and UT-wise number of Government schools imparting elementary education during 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 is given at Annexure.

(d) & (e):       No, Madam. The RTE Act, 2009, effective from 1st 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, defined as the 'appropriate Governments' under the Act, are implementing the provisions of the RTE Act, 2009 through their respective state RTE Rules.  Section 12(1)(c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for admission of children belonging to weaker section  and  disadvantage  group  in  the  neighbourhood  in  private  unaided  and  specified  category schools in Class-I (or preschool as the case may be) to the extent of at-least 25% of the strength of that class and providing them free and compulsory elementary education including at primary level. The disadvantaged group of children includes street children, children without adult protection,  children working in unhealthy occupations  like  rag-picking,  begging  and  sex  work,  abysmally  poor  sanitary conditions,  inadequate  nutrition  from  begging,  a  range  of  psychosocial  stresses,  physical  abuse  and sexual exploitation, exposure to hard drug abuse and children in far flung rural areas. Reimbursement to State/UTs are provided based on per child cost norms notified by the State Government. Further, the State  Governments  are  to  decide  the  methodology,  norms,  categories  of  EWS  and  reimbursement norms and amount to Private unaided schools that have enrolled/admitted such children.

(f):       The  Government of India has taken several initiatives to facilitate the implementation of the RTE Act and to ensure universalization of quality elementary education in the country. Earlier, the provision of RTE Act, 2009 were implemented through SSA up-to 2017-18. Now, SSA along-with other  two  centrally  sponsored  schemes  of  Rashtriya  Madhyamik  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (RMSA)  and Teacher Education (TE) have been subsumed under a new scheme-Samagra Shiksha, which is under implementation in the country with effect from 1 st April, 2018. It is an overarching programme for the school  education  sector  extending  from  pre-school  to  class  XII  and  aims  to  ensure  inclusive  and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.

In order to focus on quality education, the Central RTE Rules have been amended on 20 th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, subject-wise 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 level.

Further, the State Government and UT Administrations are supported on several interventions to  improve  teaching standards,  including  regular  in-service  teachers'  training,  induction  training  for newly recruited teachers,  academic  support  for  teachers  through  block  and  cluster  resource  centres, Continuous  and  Comprehensive  Evaluation  (CCE)  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.

Further, the  RTE  Act,  2009  was  amended  in  2017  to  ensure  that  all  teachers  acquire  the minimum qualifications prescribed under the Act by 31st March 2019 to reinforce the Government's emphasis  on  improvement  of  quality  of  elementary  education.  The  National  Institute  of  Open schooling (NIOS) has been entrusted to conduct this training through Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode.

The Shagun portal has been launched to create a repository of best practices from the States and UTs and to enable online monitoring of implementation of the RTE Act, 2009 through the SSA programme.

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) & (c) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1094 FOR ANSWER ON 17.12.2018 ASKED BY SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL: SHRI  SUNIL  KUMAR  SINGH:  SHRI  A.T.  NANA  PATIL:  REGARDING  LACK  OF AMENITIES IN SCHOOLS.

The  statement  showing  State/UT-wise  details  of  government  schools  imparting  elementary  education during the period 2014-15 to 2016-17 under SSA.

| Sl. No.   |                   | Government schools   | Government schools   | Government schools   |
|-----------|-------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|
| Sl. No.   | Name of the State | 2014-15              | 2015-16              | 2016-17              |
| 1         | A&N Islands       | 340                  | 340                  | 340                  |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh    | 46164                | 44399                | 44697                |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh | 3382                 | 3464                 | 3428                 |
| 4         | Assam             | 50070                | 50143                | 50165                |
| 5         | Bihar             | 71140                | 71411                | 71615                |
| 6         | Chandigarh        | 113                  | 115                  | 116                  |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh      | 47264                | 44387                | 44421                |
| 8         | D&N Haveli        | 275                  | 275                  | 275                  |
| 9         | Daman &Diu        | 94                   | 94                   | 94                   |
| 10        | Delhi             | 2842                 | 2826                 | 2789                 |
| 11        | Goa               | 916                  | 886                  | 865                  |
| 12        | Gujarat           | 33755                | 33843                | 33834                |
| 13        | Haryana           | 14587                | 14598                | 14446                |
| 14        | Himachal Pradesh  | 15355                | 15386                | 15489                |
| 15        | Jammu &Kashmir    | 23378                | 23329                | 23348                |
| 16        | Jharkhand         | 40603                | 40437                | 39275                |
| 17        | Karnataka         | 45654                | 45556                | 45003                |
| 18        | Kerala            | 4888                 | 4573                 | 4851                 |
| 19        | Lakshadweep       | 43                   | 41                   | 41                   |
| 20        | Madhya Pradesh    | 114420               | 114465               | 114326               |
| 21        | Maharashtra       | 67382                | 67294                | 66946                |
| 22        | Manipur           | 3302                 | 3308                 | 3305                 |
| 23        | Meghalaya         | 7755                 | 7764                 | 7785                 |
| 24        | Mizoram           | 2278                 | 2277                 | 2274                 |
| 25        | Nagaland          | 2259                 | 2092                 | 2089                 |
| 26        | Odisha            | 58573                | 58476                | 57760                |
| 27        | Puducherry        | 428                  | 421                  | 414                  |
| 28        | Punjab            | 20741                | 20488                | 20524                |
| 29        | Rajasthan         | 69947                | 70664                | 67930                |
| 30        | Sikkim            | 868                  | 870                  | 874                  |
| 31        | Tamil Nadu        | 37902                | 38200                | 38299                |
| 32        | Telangana         | 28822                | 28679                | 28977                |
| 33        | Tripura           | 4326                 | 4322                 | 4320                 |
| 34        | Uttar Pradesh     | 160942               | 161329               | 161415               |
| 35        | Uttarakhand       | 17505                | 17505                | 17514                |
| 36        | West Bengal       | 82444                | 82737                | 82993                |
|           | Total             | 1080757              | 1076994              | 1072837              |

Source: UDISE 2016-17 (provisional)