‘Schools non-compliant with RTE’

Not a single school in Bannikuppe Panchayat limits in Kanakapura taluk complies with the infrastructure requirements prescribed by the Right to Education (RTE) Act, suggests a study undertaken by the Centre for Child and Law of National Law School of India University (NLSIU).

Out of the 15 government schools covered, the research team lead by V P Niranjan Aradhya found that the schools have improved their infrastructure since March 31, 2010, to October 31, 2012, - the timeline of the research.

“Our preliminary results say that no concrete measures were taken after the implementation of RTE to improve the infrastructure. For instance, there are no individual rooms for teachers, no learning materials, playgrounds, compound walls and so on,” Aradhya said.

While the schools had separate urinals for boys and girls, Aradhya lamented that authorities failed to understand the difference between ‘urinals’ and ‘toilets.’

“They (officials) are unable to differentiate between the two. The Act mandates provision of toilets, not just urinals,” he said.

The study, still its final stages, would be shared with the Education Department. “The results of this study can be generalised to reflect upon the status of other schools. If this is the state of schools in one panchayat, it is not hard to imagine how schools are in the other places,” he said.