'No action plan in place to enforce RTE'

Though The Right to Information Act (RTE)  is in force in the State, the Karnataka government has failed to chart an action plan to effectively implement it, said Vasudev Sharma, Executive Director of Child Rights Trust.

The RTE Task Force comprising Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and child rights activists met on Sunday to discuss issues related to effective functioning of the Task Force in the State.

“A majority of private schools in the City are fleecing parents in the guise of fees and school development funds. To tackle the menace, the State government should set a limit for collecting fees,” he said.

Child Rights activist Lakshmi Prasanna from Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) said strengthening School Development Monitoring Committees (SDMCs) will help effectively implement  the Act.

‘Provide infrastructure’

One of the first steps is to provide basic infrastructure to government-run schools, he added.

To monitor the status of students in private schools, enrolled under the RTE Act, the Task Force will soon set up a database, said Nagasimha G Rao, co ordinator  of the Task Force. A book on ‘Introduction to RTE’ was released on the occasion. Activist Katyayani Chamaraj was present at the meeting.