Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | On paper, RTE successfully implemented in Maharashtra -Roli Srivastava

On paper, RTE successfully implemented in Maharashtra -Roli Srivastava

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Dec 16, 2012   modified Modified on Dec 16, 2012
-The Times of India

PUNE: Less than a fortnight ago, the state education department had stirred up a hornet's nest when it announced that kindergartens would now come under the purview of Right to Education Act, putting a spanner in their ongoing admission process. Much confusion prevailed followed by a flurry of clarifications from the government asking them to go ahead with their admission process as long as they kept 25 % seats reserved under RTE. The dust may have settled on the issue for now but in the midst of the hullabaloo an intriguing figure surfaced from the school education department's file - as many as 67,000 students across the state had been admitted to schools under RTE's 25 % reservation policy for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Given that the state had planned to enroll 2.25 lakh students in the first year of RTE's implementation, its projection of 33 % enrolment during the 2011-12 academic year appears to be an impressive figure, given the many hiccups the act's implementation was facing then.

Add to that another figure: almost 50 % of the seats kept reserved for students under RTE at 361 schools in Pune have been filled. Supporting the claim is a 12-page list of schools under each ward of the Pune Municipal Corporation, with each school showing remarkablecompliance to the RTE Act, one that many had openly opposed tooth and nail.

The data provided by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan shows several schools reporting 50 to even 100 % admissions (as on July 13 2012) to their seats reserved under RTE. Of the 361 schools listed, only 73 have shown zero admissions under RTE with as many as 94 schools reporting 100 % admissions.

On paper, the state has clearly scripted a success story on RTE implementation. According to the data provided by the state directorate, Kolhapur division tops the state in its number of admissions followed by Pune and then Nashik. Nagpur and Amravati divisions, as per the data, are the least RTE-friendly.

Sreedhar Salunke, director of state education department, who provided the division-wise statistics on the admissions held across the state under RTE's 25 % reservation rule, said that the state was pretty successful in the first year of implementation. "Of the total number of students who are eligible to take admission under 25 % reservation in the state, the first year managed about 67,000 admissions. Despite little awareness about this RTE rule, I think the percentage of admissions that took place in the state is not bad. The state has managed to take off, and next year onwards a bit more aggressive campaigning will be done to make sure maximum students are benefited," Salunke told TOI on Friday.

The state can't be faulted for feeling smug with its RTE enrolment data. After all, the figures critique the strong voices that were raised against its poor implementation, starting from its poorly-timed announcements (when the admissions were long over) to ambiguity on the beneficiary profile. A presentation made to principal secretary education by Action for the Rights of the Child indicates the resistance schools put up against taking children under RTE. In their presentation, the rights group listed the experience in Maharashtra, pointing out how many private schools were "consciously or unintentionally refusing to admit children under the 25% reservations using a variety of means". It also noted that principals and managements were being "pressurised to admit ineligible students". It was for reasons such as these, that the rights body suggesting centralized admissions under RTE. Strangely, the many disabling factors in the effective implementation of RTE do not reflect in the government's enrolment data.

The actual statistic possibly lies somewhere between an abysmal enrolment figure and the robust one put out by the government. Senior education activist Jayant Jain, however, found the enrolment figure under the 25 % reservation not really reflective of the actual situation. "I don't quite believe the figures provided by the state government. They are inflated figures, because, as per my knowledge, only about 200 to 300 admissions were done in Mumbai alone in the 2011-12 academic year under 25 % reservation."

Activists working in the field of RTE noted that while there is poor awareness among parents, many NGOs did get children admitted to schools under RTE. Nevertheless, they said there is a need to check the veracity of the government's claim, to cross-check with each school if they have indeed admitted students as they have claimed.

Until that happens, the state runs the risk of becoming complacent even as many potential beneficiaries of RTE remain unaware of a right that has been fulfilled in government records.

The Times of India, 16 December, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/On-paper-RTE-successfully-implemented-in-Maharashtra/articleshow/17631009.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close