New Delhi: With the Supreme Court upholding the constitutional validity of Right to Education Act, the government today dismissed suggestions that the burden which private schools will have to bear to implement it will be passed on to the students.
The RTE Act mandates the schools to provide free education upto 25 per cent of the students from economic weaker section between 6 to 14 years of age.
"I do not think that will happen," Sibal said in an interview to a news channel, adding "I think there would be ways and means to raise resources." He said this when asked if the burden of providing free education to the 25 per cent of children will be passed on to other students.
Sibal also assured that government will take care to ensure education to the students coming from the margins of the society after Class VIII when the provision of the Act comes to an end.
As per the provision of ther Act, free education will be provided to the disadvantaged children from Class I to VIII.
Asked as to who will pay the tab for the 25 per cent reservation, he said under the RTE Act schools which have not taken any benefit from the government will be compensated by the government.
"The government contribution annually will vary from Rs 6000 to Rs 19,000... we have made the calculation " Sibal said.
However, he agreed that this was not sufficient and said that during the 12th Five Year Plan, the government will provide school uniform and textbooks to students.
Sibal also said that the schools can also raise resources from their fund if they have surplus resources and they can also tap the funds provided by corporates through their corporate social responsibility obligation.
"You have many corporates who are committed for corporate social responsibilities. Schools can actually tap their resources so that there is no burden on parents," Sibal said.
PTI
