RTE: Parents' Suggestions Invited

With the intention of ensuring successful implementation of the Right to Education Act, the state government on Monday unveiled the draft rules under the RTE Act, and appealed to parents and guardians to offer their suggestions.

Talking to media persons on Monday, Minister for Secondary Education D Manikya Varaprasad and Minister for Minority Welfare Ahmedullah Syed said that the parents could visit the government website, www.ssa.ap.nic.in, and offer their valuable suggestions over the draft rules. The last date for offering suggestions is June 30.

The Right Of Children To Free And Compulsory Education Act, 2009, came into force on 1 April 1 2010.

The government constituted a committee with Commissioner and Director of School Education, State Project Director, Rajiv Vidya Mission and Director, SCERT to, prepare the draft rules for implementation of the provisions of the Act in the state.

Accordingly, the draft rules were prepared in consultation with educationists, teacher organizations, NGOs and other stake holders. The draft rules will be hosted on the SSA website www.ssa.ap.nic.in from 21-30 June 2010, to receive suggestions or objections from the general public.

The suggestions or objections can also be sent to the State Project Office, Rajiv Vidya Mission, through mail, fax or post.

Salient Features Of Draft Rules

• Every child in the age group of 6-14 years shall have a right to receive free education till the completion of 8 years of elementary stage. 'Free Education' means and includes providing free text books, notebooks, writing material and the mid-day meal.
  
• All out-of-school children shall be enrolled in the age-appropriate class in neighbourhood schools. After induction into the class, they shall be provided with special training for a minimum period of 3 months to a maximum period not exceeding 2 years, to cope with peer group in their respective classes.
  
• The government will establish neighbourhood schools in all habitations in the state within a walking distance of 1 km and 3 kms for providing Primary (I to V classes) and Upper-primary (VI to VIII classes) schooling facility, respectively, within a period of 3 years.
  
• With respect to children with disabilities, the government will make appropriate and safe transport arrangements to attend the school. In case of severe disability, home-based education will be provided.
  
• The government has undertaken school mapping to assess the availability of schooling facility within the specified norms, with the help of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Distance Matrix.
  
• The government / local authority will ensure that access of children to the school is not hindered on account of social and cultural factors, and that the neighbourhood school shall admit children belonging to socially disadvantaged groups and weaker sections; and that the state will endeavour the setting up of schools exclusively for socially-disadvantaged groups in their respective habitations in future.
  
• The local authority shall maintain a record of all children in its jurisdiction through a house-hold survey, in the age group of 0-14 years. A unique number will be given to every child to track the status of his or her education.
  
• The government will make arrangements for the education of migrant children, duly setting up seasonal hostels, work-site schools etc., as per the requirement.
  
• The government / local authority will ensure that no child is subjected to caste, class, religion or gender abuse in the school, and that no child is denied admission into any school, public or private, on the basis of caste/class/religion/gender.
  
• All private, aided, un-aided, specified category schools shall admit 25% of children in 1st class belonging to weaker sections and disadvantage groups as defined. The following order of preferences shall be followed in admitting the children:
  
  Disadvantaged groups: Orphans, HIV-affected and disabled - 5%; Scheduled Caste - 10% and Scheduled Tribe - 4%; Weaker sections, which include BC, Minorities, OBCs (whose annual income does not exceed Rs 60,000 per annum) - 6%
  
  
• The government will reimburse the expenditure, based on the per-child expenditure incurred on Government Schools.
  
• All the private schools established before the commencement of the Act shall submit a self-declaration in form-I, regarding compliance with the norms and standards specified in the schedule of the Act. Schools which do not comply shall have to fulfil the norms and standards within a period of 3 years, failing which recognition shall be seized.
  
• No new school shall be opened without obtaining recognition from the competent authority. A School Management Committee (SMC) shall be constituted in every school other than private schools within 6 months of the commencement of the Act, with parents of the children as members. The Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat shall be the Chairperson of the committee, selected from amongst the members.
  
• The SMC shall insure that all the children complete elementary education in its jurisdiction.
  
• The SMC shall prepare a school development plan in the month of November every year by calling Gram Sabha.
  
• In addition to SMC, there shall be Mandal-level and District -Level grievance redressal committees to redress the grievances of the teachers.
  
• The State Government will take necessary steps to fill up vacancies of teachers on a regular basis. If there is a delay in the recruitment, the SMC concerned will be permitted to engage qualified and trained personnel temporarily on consolidated remuneration as decided by the SMC to fill the time gap between creation of vacancy and actual placement of the teachers.
  
• The State Government will cancel all such deputations of teachers where salaries are paid by the school but services are taken by some other offices or institutions.
  
• The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) shall be the Academic Authority for the purpose of developing curriculum and evaluation procedures.
  
• The head teacher shall issue a certificate on completion of elementary education to the children within a month. Pupil Cumulative Record of all the children shall be maintained till they complete elementary education.
  
• The government will constitute the Right to Education Protection Authority (REPA) by the end of September 2010, for the protection of educational rights of the children.
  
• A state Advisory Council will be constituted to advise the state government on implementation of the provisions of the Act in an effective manner.
  

Courtesy: INN News