NEW DELHI: Stiff opposition from the State governments to the model right to education (RTE) Bill has made the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry reconsider the Central legislation route to operationalise the Fundamental Right to Education enacted in 2002.

This time round, the Ministry is not considering a one-size-fits-all schedule for implementation of the RTE by States. Instead of the three-year timeframe envisaged in the original legislation, a staggered roll-out is being contemplated depending upon the existing levels of enrolment; thereby spacing out the financial burden on the Centre.

Broadly, States will be divided into three categories. The shortest timeframe of three years for roll-out will be given to States, which boast of female literacy over 60 per cent. With 19 States in this category, it will be the largest of the three and includes Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab .

The second category will have States with a female literacy rate of between 40 and 59 per cent. Among the 14 States in this category are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Here, the Act will have to be put in place within five years.

In the third category, which comprises Bihar and Jharkhand, where female literacy is below 39 per cent, a seven-year schedule for implementation is being mooted. Such categorisation, according to the Ministry, will not only address the issue of funding but make the implementation of the RTE more meaningful as it factors in the regional disparities.

Since the cost of implementing the RTE was the primary reason for the HRD Ministry trying to pass the onus on to States through the model bill, the estimation of financial resources required - worked out by the National Institute of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) - is also likely to be revisited.

As per the NIEPA estimate, the minimum additional requirement for implementing RTE would be Rs.3,21,196.2 crore over five years. This was the conservative estimate; the outer limit being Rs. 4,36,458.5 crore.

This is in addition to funding that comes to this sector for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and other schemes to universalise elementary education.

A view within the Ministry is that there is considerable overlap - particularly between the SSA and the RTE - and, a review of the funding patterns of both could well scale down the finances required for providing free and compulsory education.

The Ministry reopened the Central legislation option in view of the near-unanimous veto of the model bill — as per which States would have to enact their own legislation to operationalise the Fundamental Right to Education - by all State governments. Not one of the 18 State governments, which have responded till date, has supported the model bill and others have articulated their opposition to it in various fora.

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