Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has demanded an amount of Rs 13,000 crore to implement the Right to Education Act in the state. Education Minister Archna Chitnis has also triggered a debate by allowing private schools to raise fees and admit the poor students from the next session, although it has been mandated by the Act from April 1 this year.
“The state chief minister has written a letter to the Centre demanding an amount of Rs 13,000 crore for creating necessary infrastructure to impart education to all. It also includes reimbursement of fee, which private schools will charge from the government in lieu of providing education to the poor students,” Snehlata Shrivastava, principal secretary school education department told Business Standard.
There are 2,000 private schools in Bhopal district and each of them has raised questions on implementing the Act. However, Shrivastava maintained that the schools wouldhave to follow guidelines and rules and non-compliance would attract penal actions. Private schools have already decided to raise fees to compensate the losses on account of implementing the Act.
“We have sought guidelines from the Centre, but we do not have the monitoring mechanism as to how we will ensure implementation of the Act in the private schools,” joint director of the department OP Sharma said.
Meanwhile, the state government has asked its teaching staff to conduct a survey so that maximum number of students can be enrolled in elementary or primary classes.
In the last session of the Assembly recently the chief minister in a conclave on the RTE had said, he would implement the Act but the Centre had to support in terms of finance and infrastructure.
The academic session has begun on first of this month but no circular has been issued so far to instruct private schools to implement the Act.
