The Conference of State & UT Education Ministers’ was held yesterday with Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, in the chair.  Smt. D. Purandeshwari, Minister of State for HRD, Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission, 26 Ministers of Education representing State Governments and Union Territories, Smt. Anshu Vaish, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Smt. Vibha Puri Das, Secretary, Higher Education and senior officials of the Centre and State Governments were present.

            The Conference of State/UT Education Ministers reviewed he status of implementation of the RTE Act, 2009. The Conference noted the considerable progress that has taken place in developing understanding and generating consensus on the child-centred assumptions of the RTE Act. The Conference agreed to carry the process of systemic reform forward, specifically with reference to

(i) giving wide publicity to child entitlements under the Act

(ii) undertaking teacher recruitment, re-deployment and training in a time bound manner,

(iii) initiating GIS mapping exercises  for establishment of neighbourhood schools,

(iv) initiating curricular renewal and instituting a system of learner assessment as an integral part of the learning system,

(v) expediting the processes for constitution of SMCs and notification of local authorities,  and

(vi) monitoring admission of 25% children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections at entry level in private unaided schools.  

            A presentation was made on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in school education. The need to leverage resources from the private non-for-profit sector by creating suitable PPP models to meet the challenges of expansion in the secondary education sector was outlined. The PPP model for establishment of Model Schoold in non-educationally backward blocks prepared by the Ministry of HRD was presented. State Ministers were appreciative of the Scheme for Model Colleges in the PPP mode and assured their co-operation in the implementation of the Scheme.

            Several suggestions were made by the State Education Ministers’ during discussions on the schemes in secondary education including the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)

(i)         to continue the 75:25 fund sharing patterns between the Centre and the States in the Twelfth Plan,

(ii)        to extend RMSA to cover higher secondary level and to cover Government-aided schools;

(iii)       to increase the allocation for MMER (Monitoring, management, evaluation and research) to meet administrative and monitoring expenses beyond the present level of 2%.

(iv)       to reduce the 5 km distance norm to 3 km for establishment of secondary schools wherever there is density of population is more or in respect of schools for girls, Urdu and Sanskrit schools.

(v)        to raise the financial limit for construction of new schools and expansion of new schools

(vi)       to give flexibility to States in utilization of the amount allocated for repairs and maintenance of schools according to need.

(vii)      to provide for a common SMDCs (School Management Development Committees) under RMSA and SSA.

(viii)     to provide for hostels in Model Schools especially in tribal areas.

            The progress in implementation of Sakshar Bharat was reviewed. A few State Ministers desired extension of the programme to more districts.

            The State Ministers  agreed with the need for a comprehensive and reliable data-base on Higher Education to reflect not only the factual status of the Higher Education sector, but also to aid in planning the sector’s growth in order to address the issues of access, equity, relevance and quality.  Central Government’s initiative in conducting the All India Survey on Higher Education was endorsed by States and all possible co-operation was assured in completing the survey in time and in identifying the agencies for conducting the survey. States also agreed to advise all the Institutions located in the States to provide information as required.

            Presentations were made on the progress in implementation of the scheme of interest subsidy for pursuing professional education and the scheme for establishment of model colleges in 374 identified educationally backward districts. The State Ministers indicated that awareness campaigns need to be launched by the States to publicise the scheme of interest subsidy to reach out to deserving students. State Ministers agreed to ensure prompt submission of proposals for availing of benefit for establishment of model colleges. Some States requested for the Central share to be increased.

            A presentation was made on the progress made so far under the National Mission on Education through ICT, which has 3 major components viz., generation of e-content, connectivity to colleges and universities and development of low-cost access cum computing devices.  Nearly 390 universities of the country have already been provided 1 Gbps connectivity till date which could be seen on the Sakshat portal (http.//www.Sakshat.ac.in).  Orders for manufacture and supply of low cost access and computing devices have already been placed and a few samples from the production process have already been received and are under testing.  States were informed that on an average nearly 3000 such low cost devices would be provided to each state for testing of these devices for their functionality, utility and durability in field conditions.

            The scheme of setting up of 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) in PPP mode was discussed in the Conference and it was informed that proposals from the State Governments are awaited. State/UT Governments were requested to identify private partners & location of the institute as per the criteria laid down by the Expert Committee and forward their proposals based on the DPR to the Ministry of Human Resource Development within three months.

            The State/UT Ministers were sensitized on the UGC Regulations on curbing the menace of ragging. States Governments were requested to ensure proactive participation of civil/police authorities in anti-ragging committees and immediate filing of FIR on complaints of ragging. States could also help disseminate awareness of the 24X7 toll-free Anti-ragging Helpline and ensure that educational institutions disclose all related information including contact numbers of relevant authorities through media campaigns.

MV/SKS/Hb