Taking the first step towards implementation of the Right to Education in Uttar Pradesh, the state government will identify the ‘out-of-school’ children across 72 districts in the state. The Education department, under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), will launch in August a door-to-door survey to identify the ‘out-of-school’ children in the age group of 6 and 14 years of age. In rural areas, the process will also include an undertaking by gram...

Modifications recommended in definition of ‘child with disability\\\' Taking forward the agenda set by actor Aamir Khan in the Bollywood film Taare Zameen Par, a Parliamentary Committee has suggested that dyslexia and any other type of disability, if existing, need to be included in the definition of “child with disability” while amending the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill 2010. Dyslexia does not find mention in...

School vouchers should be an integral part of the Centre’s plans to implement the Right to Education (RTE). For the state to spend gargantuan amounts on school education is fine, but to insist that the delivery too would be by the state is meaningless. Surveys have shown that government teachers are absent from their schools and children cannot do simple arithmetic or write small paragraphs after years of schooling. Reforms...

Trigerring a fresh controversy over some provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, a Bangalore school’s circular to parents virtually warns them of what could be in store once the act comes into force. Bethany High School, in a circular dated July 26, a copy of which is with TOI, said: "Under this Act, all private unaided schools will have to accommodate 25% of their strength of children around...

The Centre has revised the financial allocation under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act over the next five years. As against the Rs.1,71,000 crore suggested earlier, the Finance Ministry has now approved an allocation for Rs.2,31,000 crore. The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) under the Finance Ministry has also agreed to increase the Centre's share effectively to 68 per cent and reduce the State share to 32 per...