Right To Education

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FAQ

FAQs are frequently asked questions on Right to Education Act by various stakeholders such as Parents, Children, School Owners, Principals, Administrators, Teachers, Government officials.
FAQs have been categorised stakeholder-wise and topic-wise.

Who will ensure good quality education?

The governments and the academic institutions under them, like the NCTE, NCERT, SCERTs and so on, by ensuring that the norms and standards of the schools are adhered to within three years, all teachers are professionally trained in a maximum of five years, curriculum, content and process follows principles laid out in Section 29, a comprehensive and continuous evaluation system is in place, and children learn in an atmosphere free of fear, anxiety and trauma. The governments would be well advised to seek collaboration from university education departments and civil society groups that have experience in quality elementary education in this effort. These would be monitored by the NCPCR/SCPCRs and civil society institutions.
In addition, as per the model rules 21(3), the appropriate governments must undertake systemic quality reviews periodically through institutions of renown, which are not confined only to testing children’s achievement scores, but include assessment of teacher quality, curricular issues, social discrimination, infrastructure and other parameters that impact on quality. The involvement of institutions of higher learning on a continuous basis would be critical in this respect.

Can the norms and standards (schedule) be improved or changed?

Yes, and that shall not require a parliamentary amendment. As per Section 20 it can be done by the central government through a notification. Most likely, the National Advisory Council shall be assigned the task of reviewing the schedule periodically.

How will the SMCs be formed?How will the SMCs be formed?

The detailed procedure for the formation of SMCs is outlined in the respective state rules. Please refer to RTE Matrix.

State governments may modify the procedure if they deem necessary.The model act prescribes that 75% members of the SMC shall be parents of children studying in the school, 50% of the total members women and that the Chair and Vice Chairpersons should be from amongst the parents. Also, it should meet at least once a month, the minutes of its meetings should be made public and so on.

What is meant by neighbourhood school?

‘Neighbourhood school’ means the nearest primary/upper primary school within walking distance from the child’s residence.

The neighbourhood school concept relates to availability of a school within safe and accessible distance from the habitation where a child lives. The Act defines the limits of neighbourhood schools as 1 km walking distance from the habitation of a child at the primary level (class 1 to 5) and within 3km walking distance for upper primary level (class 6 to 8).

However, various states under their state RTE Rules have specified that in places with difficult terrain, risk of landslides, floods etc., small hamlets or habitations where no school exists, this limit may be reduced and the state will make adequate arrangements for providing elementary education.

The Government has to ensure availability of neighbourhood school for all children within 3 years of the implementation of the Act.

Would education through the open schooling system be deemed to be equivalent to formal education as envisaged under the RTE?

Open school certification would no longer be admissible under 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.

By when do the pupil-teacher ration norms have to be in place?

The PTR has to be in place within 6 months of the Act coming into force. The other norms have to be in place within 3 years.

What if teachers are not available to meet the norms of pupil-teacher ratio?

The number of vacancies in a school cannot exceed 10% of the sanctioned strength following the pupil teacher norms. If the requisite number of qualified teachers cannot be found in a particular area, the qualification norms may be modified to suit the purpose, but only for a period not exceeding 5 years.

Is private tuition banned for all teachers?

It is banned for all teachers as defined under this Act, working in government or private elementary schools. Since this Act does not apply to secondary school teachers, the ban on tuitions under this Act shall not extend to them, though there might be other laws and service conditions at the state level that disallow tuitions for secondary school teachers, which will continue to remain in force.

Are all schools required to have a School Management Committee?

Yes. All government, government aided and special category schools shall have to constitute SMCs as per Section 21 of the Act.
Since private schools are already mandated to have management committees on the basis of their trust/society registrations, they are not covered by Section 21.
A proposed amendment makes the SMC an advisory rather than a statutory body for schools covered under Article 29 and 30 of the constitution (minority schools).

Why not disallow election duties of teachers since they take away a lot of teacher time?

The Act bans all non-academic work by teachers, except elections, decennial census and disaster related tasks. Where as census involves work once in ten years, and disasters are rare, increasingly frequent elections do keep teachers away from schools for long periods of time, particularly the preparation of electoral rolls, and can violate the child’s right to quality education.

Whereas disallowing election duties for teachers would be very desirable, the constitution mandates that all central and state employees could be drafted for election work, which the Supreme Court has upheld.

Now that education is a fundamental right of children, the state governments could ensure, when requested by the Election Commission, to make available to the Commission staff other than school teachers, or for a minimal amount of time that does not interfere with their primary task of teaching.

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