Implementation of Education Act be funded by Centre: Nitish

Updated on: Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said states lacked sufficient resources to implement the Right to Education Act, 2009 and demanded that the Centre meet the expenses on it cent per cent.

''The states lack sufficient resources to implement the Right to Education Act, 2009 and it is the responsibility of the Centre to meet cent per cent expenditure on this head without specifying share of the states and centre'', Kumar said today.

He said the Act was ''a welcome step'' and initiatives to this effect was made when NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power at the Centre. ''We are in the process of implementation of the Act in Bihar evident from the steep rise in the numbers of school-going children during the past four years'', he said.

Bihar would need 3.30 lakh more teachers and 1.8 lakh additional classrooms to implement the right to education act, 2009, which came into force from April One all over the country. The recruitment exercise has to be completed within three years to bring the teacher-taught ratio to 1:30, while all teachers have to be trained within five years, State Human Resource department Minister Harinarayan Singh said.

Preliminary estimates by the state government suggest that it will require around Rs 28,000 crore to implement the act, Singh said. Other estimates put the state's likely expenditure at around Rs 26,000 crore and the centre has to decide on the quantum of financial assistance to states and it is this that will decide how effectively the Act is implemented, Singh said.

The Bihar Chief Minister had already written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the Centre bear the burden on implementation of the Act, he said. "It will be difficult for Bihar to implement it in the true spirit unless the Centre takes the bulk of the financial load," said HRD principal secretary Anjani Kumar Singh.

Implementation of Education Act be funded by Centre: Nitish

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