Karnataka private schools could implement RTE in their own way

Updated on: Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Karnataka is thinking of doing away with the powers of Block Education Officers following a suggestion by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a lobby of private schools in the state. The BEOs get their authority from state draft rules of Karnataka and these in turn are authorised by the Right to Education Act.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would be setting up a special committee. This committee would look into matters, which were previously dealt with by the BEOs. The BEOs are supposed to manage schools in their jurisdiction.

As per the RTE Act the BEOs also inspect these schools closely and check if they are providing free education to underprivileged kids. They are also supposed to map schools in a neighborhood, make academic calendars and fix examination dates.

Many private schools of Karnataka have stated their issues with the BEOs receiving authority to take administrative and academic decisions. There are several ICSE and CBSE affiliated private schools in Karnataka.

Prior to the RTE Act, ICSE and CBSE schools had been functioning on their own and taking their decisions regarding important matters like school calendar and syllabi. With the RTE the schools are now being supervised by a BEO.

Karnataka has almost 200 educational blocks. These blocks have been divided into almost 2500 clusters. There are almost 47,000 government schools in these clusters. These schools have a varied media of instruction such as Kannada, Telugu, Urdu, English and Tamil.

Karnataka private schools could implement RTE in their own way

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