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India enforces landmark education law
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Indian government enforces a historic law to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years. The law, which came into effect on Thursday, makes free education a fundamental right for millions of underprivileged children. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a televised address to the nation, expressed his government's commitment to ensuring education for all children. "The Fundamental Right to Education, as incorporated in our Constitution under Article 21 (A), has also become operative from today. This demonstrates our national commitment to the education of our children and to the future of India," the Indian prime minister said. "The needs of every disadvantaged section of our society, particularly girls, lower-caste, tribal persons and minorities must be of particular focus as we implement this Act," he stressed. Under the Right to Education Act, passed last year, there will be at least one trained teacher per 30 students. Singh promised that financial constraints will not have any effect on the scheme, which is estimated to cost 1.7 trillion rupees (USD 38 billion) over five years. Eight million children between the ages of 6 and 14 are still out of school, despite India spending 3 percent of its annual budget on school education and building elementary schools in most villages. India's literacy rate stands a little over 64 percent of its 1.2-billion-strong population. Posted by: Fred 2010-04-02 |
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