Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting on Friday, Parrikar admitted to one serious hitch in implementing the RTE. He said that several educationists have conveyed to him that due to the provision in the RTE that no student should be detained till Class VIII, there are several cases where students are giving blank answer papers to teachers during exams.
The chief minister said that just because "you cannot detain a student in one class does not mean you cannot have exams". Stating that students are not attending classes because of the provision, Parrikar said the provision "does not give license not to study". He said there are misinterpretations about the RTE and that though there are solutions, he is not only taking stakeholders like teachers and parents into confidence, but he is also "checking the solutions legally".
Parrikar, who is also the education minister, said that "there are no restrictions on the state government not to come out with something more than the RTE without loading the students (in implementing the RTE). Parrikar's idea is to make schools so attractive that children actually cry to go to school and not to stay at home. One idea is to install wi-fi in all schools. Another idea is get all government schools together. If there are two-three schools nearby, these can be brought together, better facilities and more teachers can be provided, he said. Parrikar however stressed that these are only ideas and not decisions.
He said he has asked all stakeholders to "churn" their minds for new ideas, meet people to take their suggestions and meet him in 15 days.
"Once we decide, the decisions will be put on the public platform for comments. And when the final decisions are made, it is my job to implement these with quality," Parrikar said. TNN
