Parliament on Tuesday passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017, thus, extending the deadline for teachers to acquire the prescribed minimum qualifications for appointment by four years.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha where the Bill was tabled, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Bill amends the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and under the new Act, the teachers who do not possess minimum qualifications as on March 31, 2015 will acquire the minimum qualifications within a period of four years — that is, by March 31, 2019. The lok Sabha has already passed the Bill.
Replying to a three-hour-long discussion on the Bill, Javadekar said learning outcomes are important and have been defined. He said the teachers have been provided with handbooks and parents would be provided with pamphlets detailing what a student in a particular standard is supposed to know.
Noting that teachers can get the prescribed qualification using the Swayam portal, Javadekar said there were about six lakh teachers with inadequate qualifications in the private sector alone. "Concerns have been raised how 11 lakh teachers will be trained in two yearsIJ They will be trained through online and offline courses," he said.
According to the RTE Act, 2009, which came into force on April 1, 2010, a teacher, who did not possess minimum qualifications, was required to acquire them in five years. The Act was enacted to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the age of six and 14 years.
The Central Government subsequently received requests from states for extension of the period to enable them complete the training process for in-service untrained teachers. Teachers should register on the Swayam portal and they will also be provided hands-on experience by the respective state governments, he said. Swayam is a Government-initiated programme designed to achieve access, equity and quality in education.
Javadekar admitted that it is a fact that enrolment in government schools is declining by four per cent annually while that in private schools it is increasing by eight per cent annually.
Initiating the debate, Shamsher Singh Dullo of the Congress, pointed to the disparity between rural and urban areas and spoke of lack of infrastructure and unqualified teachers. Terming Right to Education Bill a ''good but populist Bill'', Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe of the BJP referred to the lack of preparedness and foresight of the previous Government for the demands from the Act and said the NDA Government was attempting to rectify this.