Each child to get free uniform and textbooks under Right to Education

Each child from class I to class VIII in the country will be provided free textbooks and uniforms, if a raodmap prepared by the Centre to implement the Right To Education Act is accepted by the states.

The roadmap to implement the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was discussed at a meeting of state Education Secretaries recently.

According to the minutes of the meeting, nearly 7.8 lakh additional classrooms and seven lakh girls' toilets will have to be created to implement the new law which has come into force from April 1. The government will spend Rs1.71 lakh crore in the next five years for implementing the Act.

Each child will be provided uniforms at Rs400 per annum. Many states are already providing uniforms from their own budget.

"But the uniforms will have to be provided by the state governments. They need to agree to this provision and incorporate it in their rules," a human resources development ministry official said.

Every child will be provided free textbooks while a child with special needs will get Rs3,000 per annum for inclusive education. Similarly, Rs10,000 will be given for home-based education for severely disabled children.

There will be a requirement of additional 5.1 lakh teachers to meet the pupils-teacher ration of 30 for one as per the RTE Act. In UP, there is a requirement for 1.5 lakh teachers, followed by Bihar and Gujarat (0.5 to one lakh each), according to the minutes of the meeting.

The Rs1.71 lakh crore will be spent on provision of  access, infrastructure, training of untrained teachers and for intervention for out-of school children.

The teachers' salary and civil work will have maximum financial requirements of 28% and 24% respectively. Nearly 17% of  the total estimate will be spent on child entitlement, while 9% will go to special training for out-of-school children. School facilities will require 8% of this money and inclusive education will need 6%.

The 7.6 lakh untrained teachers will be provided training in next five years. Maximum number of untrained teachers are in Bihar, Jharkhand and the Northeastern states.

The RTE stipulates barrier-free education for children with special needs and one classroom per teacher. About 7.8 lakh additional classrooms will be required. Majority of these classrooms will be Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (2.5 lakh each) followed by West Bengal (1.3 lakh) and Assam (30,000).

There are nearly 27,000 'kuchcha' school buildings which will have to be upgraded. Nearly seven lakh toilets for girls will be required, including 90,000 in Bihar, 63,000 in Madhya Pradesh and 54,000 in Orissa. About 3.4 lakh schools will require drinking water facility.