A Congress MP from Goa has said that the Right to Education Act has certain inherent flaws and needn’t be followed in letter and spirit by the State. Francisco Sardinha, who represents the South Goa Assembly constituency, said the timings advised by the RTE Act were taxing both on students and teachers.
“The extension of school hours amount to harassing of students and parents. The policy does take ground reality into consideration in various States,” the lok Sabha member said.
The RTE Act is one of the flagship programmes introduced by the UPA Government. “Just because there is a law it must not be followed. If there is something wrong one should write to the Central Government saying so,” Sardinha added.
The State Government recently increased the number of instructional hours in schools from five to five-and-half hours making schools now start at 8 am and end at 2 pm with one break in between, leaving students hungry till nearly 3 pm about the time they get home. The Government claimed the change was keeping in tune with the RTE Act.
Sardinha has suggested that the State Government should write to the
Union Ministry for Human Resource Development citing the peculiarities of the State as a reason for its inability to follow the new timings.