Implementation of the RTE Act: RTE Forum’s Stocktaking Report

The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) Act 2009 came into force in 2010 (Article 21A of the Indian Constitution), making the ‘right to education’ a fundamental right for children between 6 and 14 years of age a reality. To ensure the implementation of the Act, the parliament gave timelines to the government to execute all its provisions (in terms of infrastructure etc. till March 2013 and for regularising and training all teachers till March 2015). Despite multiple limitations, the civil society welcomed this long-awaited right and converged collectively, becoming a strong voice demanding the right to education in its true spirit. Apart from strongly lobbying for its implementation, it worked overtime to take this right to the people, generating awareness about the justiciability of the Act. Ten thousand grass-roots organisations, activists, educationists and teacher’s associations came together and formed the ‘Right to Education (RTE) Forum’ to collectively take forth their efforts to the people across the country. The RTE Forum started mass awareness campaigns, advocacy and stocktaking conventions (of the implementation of the RTE Act), both at national and State levels, along with generating its own report on the status of implementation of the Act. Presently, the RTE Forum is working across 18 states. The status reports prepared by the Forum highlight the gaps in implementation, loopholes and challenges, which are shared with the concerned officials from time to time. This article is based on the fourth-year status report of the RTE Forum, which was presented in the 4th Stocktaking Convention held in Delhi in March 2014, reviewing the status of implementation of the Act one year post the first deadline. The report highlights the apathy and the casual approach of the State towards its commitment of ensuring the right to education for the children. Unfortunately, only 10 per cent schools in the country are compliant with all the norms of the RTE Act.