Right to education have to wait even after July 5

Bangalore: Right to education (RTE) in Karnataka is likely to remain stalled even after July 5, the day fixed by the state government to implement the RTE Act.

The implementation is certain to run into a plethora of problems as the state is waiting for a response from the Centre on sharing the financial burden of enforcing the law.

Primary and secondary education minister Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri said, "We have brought the financial implications of implementing the RTE Act to the notice of the Centre several times, but it has been of no use. The Centre is not bothered about it.

Without financial support from the Centre, it will be difficult for us to implement the RTE Act in a full-fledged manner."

Officials from the education department said hundreds of crores of rupees is needed to implement the RTE Act and the state has communicated this to the Centre several times, but to no avail. The state has blamed the Centre for the failure to implement the RTE Act in a full-fledged manner.

"We have enforced RTE provisions which are not a financial burden for the state government. But to implement some rules we need financial support from the Centre," said a senior education department official.

"From the day we received draft RTE Act rules, we have been communicating with the Centre on the financial burden it has to share. The Centre should make known what exactly is its idea about the financial support as soon as possible to avoid further delay in the implementation," Kageri said.

Among the RTE provisions implemented in the state are: proclamation of a complete ban on corporal punishment, changing of the teacher pupil ratio from earlier 40:1 to 30:1, directive to schools not to deny admissions and not to conduct entrance test at the time of admissions.

A major RTE provision pending implementation in the state is the neighbourhood concept under which private schools will have to earmark 25% of their seats for children from economically weaker sections in their vicinity with funding from the state government. According to department officials, the state will have to spend at least Rs800 crore to implement this provision.

According to department officials, the government needs to spend at least Rs12,000 per child every year under this concept. "We have arrived at this figure based on the expenditure being incurred for children in government schools. If these calculations are extended to private schools, the expenses will only be more," the official explained.

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Booming Education in South India say experts

Bangalore Dayananda Sagar Institutions Bangalore is spread over 29 hectares, has 10 schools in one campus and 8000 students in all. Educational scene in Bangalore is just a small example of how universities are developing rapidly in the south. Cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Coimbatore are also witnessing a boom in education.

These cities have seen the ; privatization ; of education than ever before. Each institution has used a variety of schools run as demand grows. And the numbers speak for themselves. In a huge 260 Faculty of Engineering in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, 216 and 120 in Karnataka.

"We've had a big boom, 300 institutions in the last one and half years. You should have heard that in nursing education. If we are the Silicon Valley of India, the government’s contribution to that has been just one engineering college in 50 years. The remaining is from private sector," spokesperson, consortium of medical, engineering and dental colleges, Dr S Kumar says.

One of the main reasons for a growing number of private universities is that very few universities in states like Bengal, Bihar and north-east. And when the need for a private group of students are met, there are very few places available for mature students. That's why they are in the south.

"About 45 per cent of students are non-Karnataka, from the rest of India and rest of world. This campus represents full India and the world. We see a mini-India in this campus," director, business strategy, Dayanand Sagar Institutions, R Janardhan says.

"Job prospects are good here, moreover in Assam, education facilities are not good. We have education facilities but higher education is simple and slow," an Assamese student, Trishita Borthakur says.

"It is not so easy to get a seat. I sat for an entrance test, scored well and got in," BMM student, Sonu Luniya adds.

However, states like Tamil Nadu have seen so many deemed universities that the business of education is taking its toll.

"Quality has definitely suffered. When you have such large numbers, quality will go down. I wouldn’t deny it," spokesperson, Dr S Kumar says.

There is no doubt that the proliferation of universities have their own quotas.

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