Govt approaches Finance Commission for funds for RTE

Updated on: Wednesday, November 04, 2009

New Delhi: The govt has approached the Finance Commission and the Planning Commission for arrangement of Rs 1.74 lakh crore for the implementation of the RTE Act in the next 5 years.

The availability of funds with the government is around Rs 34,000 crore under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme for the next two years. Besides, the states will provide their matching grants of around Rs 30,000 crore under the SSA.

'Still there will be requirement of funds in the next two years. The ministry has approached the Finance Commission and the Planning Commission for arrangement of the additional resources,' a Human Resource Development Ministry official said.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has already asked the states to cooperate in implementation of the Right to Education Act (RTE).

At the meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education on August 31, Sibal said apart from the available funds, there would be a need of additional Rs 60,000 crore in the five years to implement the Act.

The Right To Education Act, which seeks to make education a fundamental right of every child in the age group of six to 14 years, prescribes norms and standards for infrastructure, academic responsibilities of teachers and pupil-teacher ratio for primary and upper primary education.

The government has also proposed to set up a National Funding Corporation for Higher Education which would raise funds to finance education. The concept note of the corporation has been moved the Planning Commission. There is a plan to get funds from this corporation for implementation of the Right To Education Act, sources said.

The ministry has set up a separate committee to suggest modification of SSA norms to make it at par with the Right To Education Act. The committee is expected to submit its report by December.

The ministry has set up a separate committee to frame the rules of the Act. The rules are expected to be ready by another one month.

Govt approaches Finance Commission for funds for RTE

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