Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 passed in Lok Sabha

On July 21, 2017, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017, a bill amending the law on free and compulsory education to extend the deadline for teachers to acquire the prescribed minimum qualifications for appointment was passed in Lok Sabha.

About Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017:

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Mr. Prakash Javadekar in Lok Sabha on April 10, 2017.

• The Bill adds a provision to Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 by stating that those teachers who do not possess the minimum qualifications as on March 31, 2015 will acquire the minimum qualifications within a period of four years i.e. by March 31, 2019.
• Javadekar has mentioned that through the amendment, inadequately qualified teachers, working after enactment of the Right to Education Act, were being given a last chance to acquire minimum qualifications by March 2019.
• He added that teachers can get the prescribed qualification using the Swayam portal.
• It is to be noted that there were about six lakh teachers with inadequate qualifications in the private sector alone.
• Issue of untrained teachers was more acute in eight states and a special team is being formed by Central Government which would work like a task force.

About Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009:

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, came into force on April 1, 2010.

• The Act was enacted to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the age of six and 14 years.
• As per the act, a teacher who did not possess minimum qualifications was required to acquire them in five years i.e. by March 31, 2015.
• The central government subsequently received requests from states for extension of the period to enable them complete the training process for in-service untrained teachers.
• To accommodate these requests, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was passed extending the deadline to Mar 31, 2019.