RIGHT TO EDUCATION – No agreement on sharing cost, but Centre pushes bill

         
October 9, 2008 : Hindustan Times

THE GROUP of Ministers set up to resolve the question of cost sharing between the Centre and the States for

the implementa- tion of Right to Education legislation chose to refer the issue to the thir- teenth Finance Commission.

GoM under Minister for Hu- man Resource Development Ar- jun Singh in its first meeting on Tuesday pushed the BE forward and the finance commission will deliberate on the proportion at which the State and the Centre wn share the cost of providing universal free and compulsory ed- ucation. Different estimates have put the cost of this ambitious programme between Rs 12, 000 and Rs 73000 crore annually.

¶As this is an enabling bill for a pro- gramme to implement Right to Education, the issue of cost sharing can be decided later also. Now the task is to see that the bill is passed. We are trying our best and would put the bill for Cabinet clearance next week,¶ a HRD official told HT.

With just a week left for probably the last Parliament session of the present govern- ment, the government’s hurry to push the landmark bill, also a commitment of the UPA government is apparent. The pro- posed bill, which was pursued as a priority by the government, is in doldrums for four years mainly owing to disagreement be- tween the Centre and the state govern- ments over the expenditure-sharing model.

The Ministry meanwhile has acted fast and has already sent the bill to the Law Ministry for its fi- nal vetting (the Law Ministry which examined the bn earlier had expressed its doubts over im- plementation of some provisions).

The HRD Ministry, had earlier estimated that the cost of imple- menting the law would be about Rs 2,38,674 crore till2015. The Cen- tre wanted the states to share the financial burden with it whereas states had refused, citing financial crunch. The Ministry after that brought down the estimations but stn wanted the states to share the burden.

In absence of an agreement, the GoM de- cided to insert a new section 7 in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Edu- cation Bill, 2008, that the expenditure will be shared as per the model suggested by the Finance Commission.

But, the entire process of determining the formula may take some time.
   
 
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