Events

It is now two and a half years since the RTE Act came into force. While many initiatives have been made by the Central and State governments to bring elementary education in line with the requirements of the Act, a crucial shift in paradigm required for the successful enforcement of the RTE has yet to take place. This shift relates to the delivery of elementary education in terms of enforcing a “right” and not implementing a “scheme”. One of the main reasons this transition has not taken place is that the Act itself does not outline an accountability framework to ensure that the entitlements reach the rights-holders, and a grievance redress mechanism that they can easily activate. This lacuna unfortunately remains even in the Model and State Rules. In other words, there are no Rules or effective mechanisms to fix accountability and ensure grievance redress within the institutional framework of the RTE. This is making it extremely difficult for complaints to be handled and to enforce the rights of the child at the ground level.

In order to discuss this crucial issue and evolve strategies for moving towards Grievance Redress and Accountability Rules and /or Guidelines for RTE, Centre for Policy Research is organising  a day-long meeting at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi on October 27, 2012