The Uttarakhand Government needs to recruit 17,016 more teachers in Government schools under the provisions of Right to Education (RTE). The National Convener of the Right to Education Forum Ambarish Roy said this while speaking at a State level stock taking convention organised by the RTE forum here on Tuesday. The forum presented the stock taking of implementation of the RTE in the state and discussed the shortfalls.
Roy said that social and political strength is needed to implement the provisions of RTE in right earnest and social activists should ensure that education alleviation is on the top agenda of all political parties in the coming general elections. The Assistant Director Basic education MS Bisht said that the department is committed for complete implementation of RTE provisions. He said that the community participation is also important for education improvement and the state education department is working in this direction.
The State Convener of the forum Raghu Tiwari said that the condition of education in the state is dismal; he said that thousands of posts of teachers are lying vacant in the state and the enrollment data reveals that the students’ enrollment in the government schools has decreased from 61.3% in the year 2010-11 to 51.82% in 2012-13. Tiwari said that still 12.11% of Government schools in the State are being run by single teachers.
Prominent educationist Pawan Gupta said the RTE has given the right for education but is unclear on what should be the type of education. He regretted that “we are forgetting the traditional wisdom and empirical knowledge.” The Vice President of Rajakiya Shikshak Sangh, Mukesh Bahuguna blamed the State Government for playing with data related with education. The convention was attended by many educationists, social activists, NGOs and members of school management committees.