RTI Act stipulates that all teachers should be either DEd or BEd
BHOPAL : The future of five lakh students enrolled in 8000 schools across the state is at stake. The Directorate of public instructions (DPI) has refused to grant recognition to these schools but their owners are still running them.
The Right to Education (RTE) Act stipulates that all school teachers must have either D.Ed or B.Ed qualifications. More than one lakh teachers in these 8000 schools across the state have neither. Some government schools also have such teachers.
The deadline for such teachers acquiring the requisite qualifications provided in the Act has expired and now the state government cannot grant recognition to these schools. Most of these schools are primary and middle schools though some are high and higher secondary also. The last date for granting recognition to schools was August 12. Obviously, from that date these schools stand derecognised.
State school education minister Vijay Shah has written to Union minister for human resource development (HRD), Prakash Jawadekar to extend the deadline by two years. The chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had also written to then HRD minister Smriti Irani twice on the issue but no decision has been taken so far.
The issue has got stuck as the Central Government will have to amend the RTI Act either through a bill or through an ordinance to extend the deadline. According to Shah, permission has been sought from the Centre for extending deadline for the sake of future of students. Shah said he had personally met HRD minister in this regard. He said other states were also facing the same problem and are awaiting centre’s decision.
