By IANS,
New Delhi : Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Tuesday hoped the Right to Education (RTE) act will cover secondary schools in the coming years.
“In the coming five years similar rights will cover secondary education,” Sibal said while addressing a function organised by the ministry and UNICEF.
He said the act will address the problem of high dropout rates.
“More than 60 percent of children admitted in primary schools never reach class 12th. We have over 80 lakh children who do not go to school, many countries don’t even have so much population,” he said.
“After children complete their secondary education, they can decide if they want to go to university, or do some vocational training,” the minister added.
The Right to Education act , which came into force April 1, 2010, makes education a fundamental right for children between 6 to 14 years of age and is to be implemented for the first time in the country.
As per the act, every child in the age group will be provided eight years of elementary education in an appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his or her neighbourhood.