Now, RTE to extend to 16-year-olds in Karnataka

There is bad news for the private school lobby opposing the controversial Right to Education (RTE) Act. The ministry of human resource development (MHRD) is planning to extend the age-limit of children up to 16 years, to be covered under the much-debated RTE Act.

The Act, in its current form, includes children only in the age group of 6 to14 years. “The ministry is planning to include children up to 16 years in the RTE Act. We want to reach the target of universal education by 2017,” said SC Khuntia, joint secretary (secondary education), MHRD.

Khuntia announced the latest development on the Act at the inaugural session of the 17th National Annual Conference of Sahodaya School Complexes 2010, held at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans) on Monday.

Inclusion of children till 16 years in the Act is an attempt on the part of MHRD to universalise education up to secondary level. The RTE Act is likely to be implemented by early 2011 in many states. Karnataka, along with many other states, is yet to come up with draft rules for the Act.

According to the Act which came into force on April 1 this year, all schools should set aside 25% of seats for children from the neighbourhood.

The 25% reservation for poor children in all schools — government, private, aided or unaided — has been strongly opposed by many private schools. Experts feel that extending the Act to the age of 16 years will create further furore among the private school lobby. 

Addressing teachers via video-conference from New Delhi, Union human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal also stressed the need to integrate all underprivileged children in education system, as part of the RTE Act.

About 500 teachers attended the conference on Monday. The theme of the two-day long conference was ‘Managing Change for Better Learning’. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Bangalore Sahodaya Schools’ Association (BSSA) jointly organised the conference, set to  end on Tuesday. The CBSE is also working on creating a core curriculum and syllabus for Class XII, which can be used by other boards, along with CBSE.

“We are preparing a corecurriculum and syllabus for students in Standard XII. The curriculum is meant for students studying in various boards, across the country,” said Khuntia.

The board is also working on an international curriculum to cater to schools located outside the country.

Khuntia said that as part of the ongoing reforms processes by CBSE board, MHRD is also planning to introduce national level entrance test for students after Class X, for various streams, in two years’ time.

“The entrance test will help students get admission in plus-two courses. CBSE has already made Class X board exams optional. Now, students have the liberty to write either one of the exams conducted by CBSE board or individual schools for their respective students,” added Khuntia.

The CBSE made Class X board exams optional from 2011, as part of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system which was  introduced for standards IX and X in 2009.

In the very first year that the optional board exam was made available, nearly 2/3rd of the students opted not to write the board examination. According to sources at CBSE, around five lakh students from senior secondary schools opted out of the Class X examination to be conducted in March 2011.

The total number of students studying in the tenth standard in schools affiliated to the CBSE across India is 8,23,125.

Briefing the press on the purpose of the conference, Vineet Joshi, chairperson of the CBSE, said, “I am proud to say that CBSE board is the first board in the country to take bold steps like making class X exams optional for students and introducing CCE, where students will be assessed throughout the year in various scholastic and co-scholastic activities. We are here to discuss measures to manage changes and reforms.”