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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Experts to discuss RTE implementation at a National Consultation on Dec 21

Experts to discuss RTE implementation at a National Consultation on Dec 21

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published Published on Dec 20, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 20, 2011

-India Education Diary

 

Top-level academics from India and abroad, policy makers and education experts will unfold their experiences and strategies for an effective implementation of the historic Right to Education (RTE) Act and explore and identify critical issues in the education sector at a national conference that gets under way here on Wednesday (Dec. 21).

The day-long conference, titled 'Catalysing Education for All: Intention, Innovation, and Implementation', is being organized by Centre for Civil Society (CCS) under its ongoing School Choice Campaign.

Hailed as one of the most sweeping reforms in India's education sector, the RTE Act was enforced from April 1, 2010, making primary education free and compulsory for children in the 6-14 age groups across the country.

However, the implementation of the landmark legislation has been crippled by complex and daunting  challenges, such as lack of resources, providing mechanism to enforce 25 per cent reservation for children from economically weaker sections in private schools (Clause 12) and meeting recognition norms for Budget Private Schools (Fees charged between 100-500 per student per month as envisaged in Clause 19). Finding and training qualified teachers, providing admission to children in age-appropriate class (Clause 4) have also proved roadblocks.

The list of the high-profile speakers at the conference, being organised at India Habitat Centre, includes Mr Anil Swarup, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Labour and Employment; Mr Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation; Mr Amit Kaushik, Chief Operating Officer of Educomp Infrastructure and Schools Management Ltd; Prof. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, Institute of Education, University of London; Mr Karthik Muralidharan, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California; Mr Sudhir Mankad, Former Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat; Ms Maya Menon, Founder Director, The Teacher Foundation; Prof. Sugata Mitra, an expert on Educational Technology;  Mr R Sridhar, Managing Director, Educational Initiatives, and Mr Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, Datawind.

India has an estimated 400 million children under the age of 18, and over 240 million of these are between the ages of 6 and 14. Although 95% of these children are enrolled in primary schools, only 45% finish their elementary education and only 28.4 per cent complete secondary education.

"It is important that stakeholders engage in extensive dialogue, rooted in their experience and observations, to help evolve a common vision for the way forward," says CCS president Dr Parth J Shah on the effort to bring leading experts for the brainstorming meet. "There is a lot of knowledge within civil society on ways and means to universalize elementary education. Unfortunately this knowledge doesn't find its way into the dialogue process because there is no dialogue even within government departments," he adds.

Besides 'Implementation of RTE: One Year After'; the conference will also deliberate on a wide   spectrum of issues, including 'Secondary Education: Renewed Objectives'; 'Public Private Partnerships: Building sustainable models'; and 'Disruptive Innovation in Education: Looking to technology'.

"While primary enrolment rates in India cross the 95% mark, the challenge of retaining these children and seeing them progress to secondary school remains. Though secondary education lies outside the scope of RTE, it holds the promise of innovation to evolve a framework that would be directly relevant to the needs of the rapidly evolving market in India," Dr Shah points out.

The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), an initiative of the Human Resource Development Ministry aimed at providing a fillip to secondary education, emerging PPP models and innovative technology enabled interventions are the issues that would require robust conversations for an effective coordination between stakeholders from the government and civil society towards Education for All.

Another issue on the agenda of the conference is the role of Budget Private Schools in expanding the access to schools and whether various State rules are in conflict with the RTE Ac. Besides, panelists will deliberate on the need to forge a more robust and direct interface between the public and private sectors in the education sector to make delivery cost-effective and efficient. They will also examine aspects of classroom teaching, solutions for last mile delivery and meeting challenges of scale.

"The conference will look at international models that have innovated government expenditure on access to private education as well as feasibility of Charter Schools and School Vouchers," Dr Shah says.

India Education Diary, 19 December, 2011, http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/showEE.asp?newsid=11290


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