State committed to implement RTE Act'

The State government has already accepted RTE Act in principle, he added.  Speaking to presspersons at the sidelines of a programme on ‘Creative administration for quality education’ and felicitation of top scorers in SSLC and cent per cent securing schools, organised jointly by the Zilla Panchayat, district administration and Ramakrishna Mutt here on Saturday, he said “the process for implementing RTE Act is under progress. The rules have been drafted and have taken down the public opinion on the drafted rules. We have received over 2,000 objections to the draft.

The draft is being discussed in the law and finance departments. Measures will be taken to notify the rules to implement RTE Act for its implementation atleast by next academic year.” At the same time, the State requires funds for the implementation of RTE Act. The Centre should also provide aid to the State in the implementation of the RTE Act. The centre has not made clear its stand on giving aid to the State, he added.

Health clubs
The Minister said that health clubs have been constituted in all the schools in the district to give emphasis to the health of the children. The concept of Health teams is new and is aiming at warding off all the bad habits from the school children and to inform children on the nutritious food.

Language policy
The State is committed to the language policy on teaching Kannada from first to fifth standard. As the issue is in the Supreme Court, the Centre should implement a policy on language policy which is applicable to the entire country.

DEd curriculam
To a query on outdated DEd curriculam, the Minister said that there is a need to discuss the issue in detail. The discussion on DEd courses are being carried out at the departmental level.

Donation
When asked on hefty donations collected by the private schools, he said the State government does not have any control over CBSE schools in the State to initiate action against the erring schools charging hefty donations.

“We have been asking the Centre to allow the State government to initiate action against those CBSE schools which charge donations. However, if any one complains against a private/aided/government school for charging hefty donations, then the BEOs/DDPI/Deputy Commissioner can initiate action against them after an enquiry,” he said.