Newsroom

Education free, but what about accessories?

BANGALORE: When Mohsina Begum, a mother of three, was told about the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE), her joy knew no bounds. Already burdened with the responsibility of educating two children, Mohsina was finding it difficult to get her third child admitted in a school.

Rajasthan education department tells schools to admit orphaned children under RTE

JAIPUR: The education department on Monday issued notices to schools asking them to admit orphaned children through lottery system for filling 25% seats as per RTE provisions. So for, orphans were deprived of the benefits under Right To Education Act as they were told to bring parents’ income certificate and caste certificate as per RTE rules.
TOI had first reported the plight of such children.

Schools get more time to fill RTE seats

MUMBAI: The state education department on Monday gave schools a two-week extension on their deadline to enroll children from weaker sections in the 25% seats reserved for them under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Schools claimed that they did not get enough applications to fill the quota by
June 10, the deadline the state government had previously set. Principals said that they had not received enough applications owing to lack of awareness among the beneficiaries of 25% quota.

Cotton creates dropouts in Vidarbha

It is the beginning of June and 14-year-old Somirao Kavdu Madavi from Yavatmal’s Madhavpur village is getting ready with his bags. But he is not going to school. A Standard 4 dropout, he is set to leave for a cotton farm where he works all year around. His family gets Rs. 25,000 for his 12 months of work. The amount, he states, is difficult for his family to let go.

‘Right to Education came as divine intervention’

NAGPUR: Naresh Charde, a driver, has applied for sought admission for his daughter, Samidha, as per the provisions of RTE Act. Charde’s wife Nilima is a homemaker as she has to look after their two-year-old younger daughter. Nilima has studied up to Std X. The family resides in a small but pucca house in Manewada, a middle-class locality in the south-east part of the city.

‘Right to education yet to be made mandatory’

TUMKUR: The former Minister Basavaraj Horatti has alleged that the State Government has failed in making right to education mandatory during this academic year.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Mr. Horatti alleged that the Government had failed in implementing RTE Act effectively. The Supreme Court had ordered reserving 25 per cent seats in all private schools for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and minorities but it is not being followed in the State, he alleged.

Tamilnadu children give inputs for state’s 12th five year plan

CHENNAI: In a first-of-its kind initiative, children from across Tamil Nadu have given feedback to the State Planning Commission on various child-friendly measures like effective implementation of Right To Education that need to be included in its coming 12th five year plan. Over 50 children representing Federation of Children Movements for Rights to Participation from all districts had consultations from May 6 to 8 at nearby Thirukalukundram and discussed various issues.

Many clueless about 25% Right to Education quota with a day left

MUMBAI: With just a working day left for schools to follow the 25% reservation clause under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, most are worried as they have not yet received any application for these seats. Over 15 schools in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai told TOI they had not received any application.

Low cost private schooling in India: Is it pro poor and equitable?

Author: Joanna Harma

Romney attacks Obama’s education policy

WASHINGTON: Calling it a “national education emergency,” Mitt Romney said Wednesday that poor and disabled children should be allowed to escape failing public schools by using federal dollars to pay for private schools and other alternative settings.

CBSE schools grapple with RTE Act

CHENNAI: Most city schools that are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have completed admissions for the new academic year. Different schools are responding differently to the clause on 25 per cent reservation that is mandated by the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
While some schools say they received no query from parents of eligible children, others point to the presence of government schools within a 1-km radius. A lot of awareness may be required before the objective of this clause of the RTE Act is realised, say educationists.

Flaws in RTE Implementation

The Act envisages that all the children from age 6 to 14 will be provided free and compulsory education by the Government. So far, so good.

Now let us examine the implementation of this Act. Like all pious government initiatives, this one also appears to be flawed in its implementation.

However laudable the objectives of an Act be, if its implementation is erratic and haphazard, it will defeat its very purpose. As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in its eating.

Girls get preference under Right to Education Act in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: Girls will get preference in admission to schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. This will be done as part of the 25%reservation for economically weaker section (EWS) and socially disadvantaged group (SDG) students, said sources.

Lukewarm response to RTE quota

BANGALORE: There seemed to be a lukewarm response from parents to the novel provision of the Right to Education (RTE) Act — which opens up 25 per cent of admissions in private schools to disadvantaged children — even as the deadline for receiving applications came to a close on Friday.
The Hindu team that visited a selection of 15 unaided private schools across Bangalore, picked at random from North and South Divisions, were told by the school authorities that they had either received very few applications compared to the number of seats announced or none at all so far.

Clarity on quota seats in minority institutions soon

HUBLI: Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has said that confusion over seat reservation in minority educational institutions would be cleared by the State government shortly.
Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, Mr. Kageri admitted that despite the Supreme Court order on exempting minority institutions from reserving 25 per cent seats for disadvantaged children, there was still confusion over which are the minority institutions to be exempted from the purview of the Right To Education Act.