TEAM HERALD
PANJIM/NEW DELHI: Even as the circular by the government clarifying various aspects of the extended school timings is likely to be out within the next two days, the Centre Monday said that in case of Goa schools, the State government has fixed higher minimum hours of teaching as compared to the RTE Act.
In reply to Goa’s Congress MP Shantaram Naik, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor told the Rajya Sabha that the minimum working days in case of classes I to V are 200 with 800 instruction hours in the academic year.
In case of Goa schools, the State government has fixed the minimum hours of teaching at a much higher 1210 hours in an academic year, through a circular that fixes the teaching hours to be not less than five hours and 30 minutes, the minister said. He said provisions of the RTE Act do not apply to the unaided minority schools as per a Supreme Court decision last April.
According to the minister, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, known as RTE Act, prescribes a minimum 220 working days and teaching for 1000 hours in an academic year in classes VI to VIII, Tharoor disclosed.
Education Department officials when contacted by Herald, said that education is a State subject “and we know what we are doing… the Centre should not interfere in this subject matter”.
The education ministry has, however, said that it will take a look at Tharoor’s statement after which it will give a fitting reply.
In reply to another question, Dr Tharoor informed Naik that the RTE Act is implemented through the Sarva Shiksha Abiyan for which the Centre had released Rs 6.71 crore in 2010-11, Rs 10.79 crore in 2011-12, Rs 10.13 crore in 2012-13 and Rs 4.50 crore as the first installment in 2013-14, to the State government.
