Govt defrauding people by delaying RTE: Activists

New Delhi: The UPA-II government's flagship RTE Act might just remain an unfulfilled promise if the government decides to extend the deadline for compliance by another two years.As per the RTE Act, schools that fail to meet infrastructure standards - such as drinking water and toilet facilities, a minimum pupil teacher ratio - by 31 March 2013 (Act came into force in 2009) risk losing recognition and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.With six months to go before the statutory deadline expires, the status of implementation reflects an alarming lack of will and commitment to implement the right to free and compulsory education by government-run schools.[caption id="attachment_506396" align="alignleft" width="380"] Reuters[/caption]As per data provided by the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry, 41 per cent of these schools are yet to meet the pupil teacher ratio (one teacher for 30 students) requirement, only 64 per cent of the schools have separate toilets for girls and boys, six per cent of the schools still don’t have drinking water facilities.But a move to extend the deadline by two-years, which will in effect reward incompetence and not punish those accountable for their failure, has left many deeply disappointed and angry at the government.Senior lawyer and a leading RTE activist Ashok Agarwal says a move to extend the RTE deadline is not only “unconstitutional and anti-child but also a big fraud on the innocent people of the country”.“To provide drinking water in schools the government has taken 65 years. What can be a bigger fraud than this? First of all, the inclusion of deadline itself was irrational. Facilities such as drinking water and toilets should be available on day one,” says Agarwal.Expressing disappointment also over the recent Supreme Court judgment that set a six month deadline for providing drinking water and toilet facilities in schools, he said: “There is no rational basis for giving time for something that is needed today. The Supreme Court says Fundamental Rights cannot be diluted or compromised. But in practice, it is being compromised.”"What about accountability?", asks Saurabh Sharma of JOSH (Joint Action for Social Help), which runs an RTE campaign in a resettlement colony in East Delhi.“What has happened in these three years? After declaring the right to education a right, the government gave it three years to be implemented. Already, the rights of children have been delayed. If the infrastructure is not ready in 2015, will the government further extend it to 2017? What is the meaning of a right then?”The issue of extending the deadline is expected to come up at the next meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, the government’s highest advisory board on education, on 1 November.