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Saturday, April 3, 2010

Left, BJP feel Right to Education may go wrong way-Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

Left, BJP feel Right to Education may go wrong way-Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

Left, BJP feel Right to Education may go wrong way
3 Apr 2010, 0450 hrs IST,ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: After the applause, the reality check. The Manmohan Singh government is now faced with questions about implementation of the Right to
Education Act with opposition parties expressing apprehensions about infrastructure and funds required to execute the target envisaged in the law.

The CPM, which has complained about lack of financial wherewithal for states to implement the Right to Education Act, wants the central government to create conditions to enable children to go to school. “It’s a positive step. Legally it gives the right to education for children. But there are around five crore children below the age of 14 working in India because of their family’s poverty-stricken conditions,” CPM politburo member and CITU leader M K Pandhe said on Friday.

This means, the government should address the problem of child labour in the country. Mr Pandhe said unless these children are provided books, meals and clothes they will not be in a position to attend school.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has already written to human resource development minister Kapil Sibal expressing his reservations about provisions of the right to education law. The state government’s lament is that under the law, the entire onus is on it. The state government will be answerable if it failed to provide free and quality education to all students