Under article 370 of the Constitution, many central Acts do not automatically apply to J&K. The J&K state legislature can however pass a similar Bill to come at par with the rest of the country. Otherwise the Act will apply to all other states and UTs of India.

As it stands, the Act does cover such institutions too; with an amendment that has recently been introduced in the Parliament.

No, the Act does not recognize a child’s right to education at a site other than a school defined in the Act at section 2 (n) (see Q18). In that sense, the Act is more like a “Right to Free and Compulsory Schooling’. Schooling would in fact be compulsory for all children.

Yes, provided they attain the norms and standards as defined in the Act; within three years of notification of the Act.

Open schooling provides external certification at various levels in the 6 to 14 age group, even when a child is either not in a school, or is in an informal or non-formal school. Since the Act replaces external board examinations by Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation (CCE) in this age group, and makes education in a neighbourhood school of minimum norms and standards provided by the schedule of the Act compulsory, open school certification would no longer be admissible under the Act. The National Institute of Open Schooling has already withdrawn its certification process for the 6 to 14 age group. All children not in school, or previously under an open school situation have a right to be admitted to age-appropriate class to a neighbourhood school, without having to produce any certification of their earlier education.

Since both the central and state governments are involved, both shall have to make rules. The central rules have already been finalized, and a set of model rules for the states have been circulated by the centre to the states. The states can either accept the model rules as circulated or make appropriate changes in them. Finally, the central government has to place the rules in the Parliament, and the states in their respective legislatures. The rules can be modified by the centre or the states as and when necessary.

The SSA would have to be harmonized with the RtE. That shall require changing various norms, working out a new fund sharing pattern and necessary changes in the governance structure. RtE, unlike the present SSA is not a scheme. If SSA remains the vehicle of implementation of RtE, it shall have to shed its project character. A RtE-SSA harmonization committee has considered these issues and its 217 page report is now public. It is like a blueprint for the implementation of the Act. It is hoped that the MHRD shall make available bulk copies of the report at the earliest.

They shall act as advisory bodies. They could also facilitate research and studies and systemic evaluation to help improve the implementation of the Act. The NAC is also likely to be the body that will monitor the norms and standards of a school contained in the schedule attached to the Act, and suggest changes to it whenever necessary.

A set of amendments have already been introduced in the Parliament during the 2010 budget session, which are likely to be incorporated during the following monsoon session. They are:

1. to insert in Section 2(d) after the word “means”, the words “a child with a disability or”

2. after clause 2(e) insert the following clause: ‘(ee) “child with disability includes” namely – (A) a child with “disability” as defined in clause (i) of the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995, (B) a child, being a person with disability as defined in clause (j) of section 2 of the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999; (C) a child with “severe disability” as defined in clause (o) of section 2 of the National Trust Act, 1999.

3. In Section 21 of the Act, in sub-section (2), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely: “Provided that the School management Committee constituted under sub-section (1) in respect to a school established and administered by minority, whether based on religion or language, shall perform advisory functions only.”

Section 3 of the Act has also been amended to reflect the amendments (i) and (ii) and Section 22 has also been appropriately amended to reflect amendment (iii).