The Tamil Nadu Elementary School Teachers' Federation (TNESTF) has thanked Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for notifying enforcement of the Right to Education Act, thereby paving way for providing quality and compulsory education for all children of school-going age.
Federation General Secretary N. Rengarajan and president K.Kamaraj expressed happiness over the State being in the forefront to implement the Act for educational development. They wanted the State government to issue appropriate government orders to safeguard the rights of children.
The Federation, they recalled had conducted a massive demonstration involving participation of about two lakh teachers during February 2007 demanding implementation of RTE Act, and extracted commitment from the Centre for setting right discrepancies and introducing it at the earliest.
ADVERTISEMENT
Five years time
Owing to the efforts of the association, the amendment was incorporated into the Act in 2009, and since then, the Centre has been prevailing upon all State governments to implement the Act. Though the impact should be created in five years time, many States have not responded positively.
Notification of RTE in Tamil Nadu would accord a thrust to enrolment of children at primary level, retaining them, preventing them from dropping out, besides expanding scope for teacher appointment, maintenance of teacher-student ratio, infrastructure development of school, creating the right hygiene facilities for girls, construction of compound wall, and bringing in stipulations for private schools.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Act also specifies salary of teachers in private schools on par with their central government counterparts. The Act specifies that children should not be affected mentally or physically.
TNESTF
The TNESTF has also welcomed the constitution of school management committees with adequate representation for public and parents. The new committees, according to the Federation, will help in streamlining the huge revenues of private schools in the interests of teachers who hitherto used to receive meagre salaries.
The Federation also felt that there was no need for the government to reimburse tuition fee for the 25 per cent of students the private schools are expected to admit from poor socio-economic background.
The Act ensures that only qualified candidates must be appointed for posts of teachers and that unqualified teachers will have to complete B.Ed within five years, the Federation pointed out, and stressed on deserving salaries for teachers and not pressurising them to carry out other tasks.
Meanwhile, the All India Primary Teachers' Federation (AIPTF) has emphasised that students enrolment should not be missed for want of birth certificate.
Provisions in the Act to prevent commercialisation of education should be implemented, making use of the legal mechanisms.
S. Eswaran, AIPTF General Secretary said.
Mr. Eswaran, who is also the General Secretary of SAARC Teachers' Federation and Vice-President of Education International thanked and appreciated the Chief Minister for notifying RTE Act.