The Rajya Sabha unanimously passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which aims to provide a two-year window to around 11 lakh private and government teachers to get prescribed minimum qualifications for appointment.
Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Bill was being amended as the 2009 Act, which came into force on April 1, 2010, teachers without professional qualification were required to get them by 2015.
“In absence of the qualification, we couldn’t have sacked 11 lakh teachers, which includes seven lakh private teachers or do injustice to children. The Bill gives them an opportunity to acquire professional qualification by enrolling themselves in the Swayam platform, which will be an online medium. Those living in rural areas would be taught through Swayam Prabha television channels in 32 languages, and they would have to buy a set top box worth ₹ 1300. For this we have already signed memorandum of unde₹tanding with Doorda₹han,” said Mr. Javadekar.
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Participating in the discussion, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe of BJP attacked the then UPA government of bringing in the Act in a hurry and said the Right to Education Act was a
Attacking Mr. Sahasrabuddhe statement, Jairam Ramesh of Congress said the Act was passed in a hurry by the Congress led government in 2009 was a complete “rewriting of history.”
“The Right to Education Act was a continuation of Article 21 A introduced in the Constitution in 2002 by the 86th Amendment when A.B Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. It was brought in after eight years of preparation, to say this Act was prepared in a hurry, is a complete rewriting of history. In 2013-14 the budgetary allocation for Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan was ₹ 24 thousand 812 crore, in 2016-17 it came down to ₹ 23 thousand 500 crore,” Mr. Ramesh said.
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