The Hindu Nation page: Amendment to Education Bill passed, disability net widened Aarti Dhar
The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 that widens the net for disabled children bringing within its purview children with severe disability. Such children would have the option of receiving education at home. It gives school management committees an advisory role in minority schools, both aided and unaided, and puts madrasas and Vedic schools and other institutions providing primarily religious instruction outside the mandate of the Act. Moving the Bill, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said it provided the right to receive home-based education to children with severe disabilities. Mr. Sibal said: "It is a historic piece of legislation and will have a huge impact on quality education to children between classes 1 and 8 in the 6-14 age group." "The Bill will change the way we look at education. You can have a [piece of] legislation but it needs to be implemented," he said and called for involving key stakeholders, including children, parents, non-governmental organisations and schools and not just the government alone. Mr. Sibal said parents would have the option of providing home-based education to children with severe disabilities and said the clause should not be used as an instrument by institutions to deny them admission. This is the first education bill passed in Parliament in two years. The Minister hoped that all pending education bills would also be passed as these dealt with the future of children. There are 13 pending education bills in Parliament. Mr. Sibal pointed out that the amendment goes beyond the orders of the Supreme Court, which kept unaided minority schools out of the purview of the Act. As per the amendment, the school management committee will not have the final authority in all minority schools and its role will be advisory. Though not within the purview of the amendment, Mr. Sibal responded to issues raised about the 25 per cent quota for children from economically weaker sections. With thanks and regards (Rajesh Asudani) Assistant General Manager Reserve Bank of India Nagpur Cell: 9420397185 o: +91 712 2806846 R: 2591349 (In youth you want things, and then in middle-age you want to want them.) ________________________________ Notice: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this email by error, please notify us by return e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Reserve Bank of India accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in