Education Act to benefit 1.37 lakh students in Maharashtra

Over one lakh students in Maharashtra, who have never been to a school, would benefit by the Right to Education Act, a senior minister said.

"About 1.37 lakh children in the state, between six and 14 years, who never went to school, would benefit by the Act," education minister Balasaheb Thorat told PTI here today.
    
After the Act which came into force yesterday, it now becomes responsibility of the state government, parents and teachers to ensure children in this age group are given proper education, he said. Special efforts would be made to check  cases of dropouts, Thorat said.

The new statute makes it obligatory on part of the state governments and local bodies to ensure that every child gets
education in a school in the neighbourhood.

The Act ensures the syllabus is designed in such a way that students would have to bear less burden and fear less about studies, he said.

"Schools would introduce grading system till standard VIII to reduce stress and pressure on students to obtain more marks," he said. The schools won't be able to expel the students, he added.

Claiming that the education scenario in Maharashtra was better, the Minister said the dropout rate in the state is only one per cent, compared to the national average of 4%.

Asked about additional infrastructure and funds that would be needed in order to implement the Right to Education Act, the minister said the state has adequate infrastructure. 

"Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, we have built new classrooms and brought required schooling material. However, if directed by the Centre, more infrastructure would be made available," he said.

As per a survey conducted under the Abhiyan last year, there are 72,864 schools and 1.59 crore registered students from class I to VIII in the state, the minister added.