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Journalism of Courage
In the works since 2002 when the 86th constitutional amendment was effected, the Right to Education (RTE) Bill is set to get the green signal from the Cabinet soon and is on the business agenda for Parliament.
All outstanding issues that have held back the Bill so far have now been addressed by a Group of Ministers (GoM) when it met last week and the legislation will now come with a decentralised district level grievance redressal system, a broad spectrum National Advisory Council of experts to help implement the legislation’s provisions and a clearly spelt out role of the Finance Commission to ensure a controversy-free state and Centre fund-sharing formula. The Bill will also apply to all private schools stipulating 25 per cent reservations for needy children.
When the Bill was first taken to the Cabinet on August 8 this year, not only were questions raised about the funding formulae to bear the cost of the Bill that seeks to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 but also about the grievance redressal mode. While the legislation earlier called for all grievances to be addressed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the Cabinet had raised questions on the issue saying this would centralise grievance redressal. The Law Ministry had also earlier raised doubts about the Bill’s provisions inviting litigation. The GoM has accordingly decided that grievance redressal would be decentralised and authorities will be instituted at regional level.
That apart provision is also there in the Bill for constitution of a National Advisory Council comprising experts who will advice on the implementation of the Bill. The Council have representatives from academic, child welfare, administrative and management fields as well. The Bill also takes a more ‘clear stand’ on the funding issue saying that the Centre would prepare estimates and ask the states to share a proportion of the amount needed to implement the RTE Bill. The role of the Finance Commission in devolution of funds to states will also be explicitly mentioned drawing from Article 280 of the Constitution.
