Assam Implements Right to Education

Guwahati, Jul 7 : The Right to Education (RTE) Act has become a reality in Assam from today with the state Cabinet approving the Rules needed for implementing the Act.

With this, Assam became the 19th state in the country to implement the RTE Act of 2009.

Informing this at a press conference here, Education Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sharma said, ''The Cabinet has approved the Rules needed to implement the RTE Act and from now on elementary education will be ensured for every child by the state.

''The Rules were approved unanimously after extensive discussions for two hours in the Cabinet,'' he added.

The state government has already set in motion measures to implement the RTE Act.

''Under the Act, there must be a lower primary school within every 1 km and middle school within every 3 km. For this, the Sarba Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) will complete satellite and road mapping within three months,'' the minister said.

He added 300 people will be employed for the work and the list will be published in newspapers for the general public to make claims and objections.

There are currently 35,000 lower primary and 7000 middle schools in the state.