The HRD Ministry is mulling extension of the RTE Act for Classes IX and X as well as to KG or children below 6. This was stated by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar after a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) which was held here on Monday. Education ministers of 22 states participated in the CABE meeting along with the officials.
The status report of the sub-committee on the extension of RTE Act was submitted to the ministry. This was the 65th meeting of CABE. “Thinking is going on. Wait for some time, we are working on it. We will have to see how it will converge with Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and whether any legislation is required,” said Javadekar.
An MOU was also signed between the J&K government and the Ministry of HRD for engagement with children of the state.It envisages exchange programme by which children of J&K will go to other parts of the country and children from other states will travel to J&K. The first lot of children will come from J&K on Republic Day from schools that have been identified.
A consensus has been built on the launching of Operation Digital Board on lines of Operation Blackboard. The Union government and the corporate sector will be involved. “Like the cost of the LED bulb being reduced due to massive demand, the cost of the digital board will also come down,” said the minister. Javadekar added that the Maharashtra government has already allocated Rs 300 crore towards this.
He said a scheme will be launched for out-of-school children in September. “In rural places, children get left out. We will find them, convince them and bring them back to school,” said Javadekar.