SHILLONG, June 21 � Meghalaya would become one of the few States in India to honour a Constitutional mandate and make free compulsory education a fundamental right for school children.
The State Government came one step closer towards achieving its aim of implementing the Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009 after the Cabinet approved the rules today.
Education Minister, RC Laloo said that draft rules of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 or RTE have been approved with certain changes and modifications.
�Implementation of the Act will change the system of education for children of the State. The rules would be implemented at the earliest,� Laloo said.
Under the Act, free and compulsory education would be provided to children between the age group of 6-14 years in classes I to VII.
Moreover, no child shall be held back, expelled or required to pass a Board examination until the completion of elementary education. They would instead be assessed under a �Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)� system.
As per the CCE system, among others, there would be regular assessments, analysis of learning gaps, applying corrective measures, retesting and giving feedback to teachers and students for their self-evaluation.
Laloo also said that the draft rules have laid emphasis on teachers training. It may be mentioned that the State has a large number of untrained teachers.
�The issue of untrained teachers was discussed in the Cabinet meeting. The whole aspect of quality education depends on quality teachers,� Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said.
Under the new system, teachers will be required to co-relate the classroom process with evaluation and take into account not only the scholastic achievements but also abilities like expression, regularity, discipline and participation in co-curricular activities.
�We have a backlog of untrained teachers in the State. The training institutes which we have are not enough to cater to the needs of teachers� education,� Sangma said.
He said the government is planning to provide scholarships to youths who
are willing to undergo teachers� education. �The aim is to get youths willing to become teachers,� Sangma said.
