Only three per cent of the schools in the State have fully complied with the norms of Right to Education (RTE) Act though the final deadline for full implementation of the Act ended in March.
As per the Government’s own District Information System for Education (DISE) source, only three per cent of the schools are RTE compliant in terms of ten basic indicators of the Act.
Districts like Balangir, Nuapada, Raygada, Nabarangpur and Malkanagiri are found having below one per cent schools fully complying with the RTE norms.
On the completion of five years of the Act, the Odisha RTE Forum in collaboration with Oxfam India and Sikshasandhan organised a three months campaign in 24 districts in the State in the name of “Haq Banta Hai.” The forum organised an experience sharing meeting on Sunday to highlight the findings and experiences.
The campaign teams engaged with 291 school cabinets who also passed resolutions mentioning the status of their schools which would be submitted to the Chief Minister soon.
A total of 1,724 grievances collected along with the signature of 95,739 people which demanded proper implementation of the Act.
RTE Forum convenor Anil Pradhan shared that around three lakh people were reached and oriented across the interior parts of the district through this campaign.
Senior journalist Rabi Das, OCPCR Chairperson Kasturi Mohapatra, Director Planning and Coordination wing of the School and Mass Education department Dipak Ray, Zee Kalinga State head Satya Prakash Nayak shared their views and highlighted the importance of the RTE Act.