RTE Act: Govt to stick to March deadline

The government on Thursday said the deadline for implementing the Right to Education Act would not be extended beyond March.

At the 60th central advisory board of education meeting, newly-appointed HRD minister Pallam Raju said he was ‘committed’ to meeting the RTE 2013 deadline in coming March.

“We should not dilute the Act. Even though some states have said that they are not prepared, we owe it to the future generations to meet the deadline,” he said.

Despite the gaps in meeting the teacher-pupil ratio and infrastructure standards as proposed in the Right to Education  Act, Raju indicated that he was willing to take up the challenge.

Many activists and educationists working on the issue had also urged the government not to extend the proposed deadline as that would only lead to further delay.

As of now, no decision has been taken on the other proposal to extend the RTE to cover pre-primary and secondary education that was put forward at the meeting. It would be discussed with all stakeholders, Raju said at the day-long meeting of state education ministers and educationists.