Maharashtra govt meets education officials to clear RTE confusion

Even as the Centre brought the Right to Education (RTE) Act into force from April 1, the state government is still to do a checks and balances of the resources available for implementation here.

State education minister Balasaheb Thorat organised a two-day conference, yesterday and today, to explain the Act to top education officials and also to overcome barriers in implementing the Act.

Several education officials met for the conference at Pune on Monday including the directors of higher and school education.

According to a recent survey by an NGO, around 25 lakh students enrol in Std I across state schools and by Std VII, there is a drop in the figure by 1.5 lakh students, the minister said. “We have formed different groups within our departments. Each group will be given tasks to perform. We want to see how these dropouts can be brought back to schools. Also, we are trying to work out these measures with the available funds as there is no separate allocation for RTE this year,” Thorat said.

The meeting was organised with the help of United Nations’ International Children’s Funds in Pune.

An official who attended the meeting said, “The basic agenda was to explain the contents of the RTE Act to officials in the state. The idea was first presented in Maharashtra 100 years ago and has now been made into a fundamental right. So, we should be the forerunners in implementing the Act.”