Public private partnerships (PPP) are an essential element to reinforce the objectives of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. This was stated by Dr Amarjit Singh, Additional Secretary, Department of Elementary Education, at a conference organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to bring together different stakeholders in the country to further the objectives of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The focus of the conference was on having the private sector, public sector, non-government organisations (NGOs) and the government work as a cohesive unit to make every child in the age group of 6 to 14 years reap the benefits of going to school.
Dr Singh acknowledged the work that NGOs were doing in spreading the message of free and compulsory quality education across the country. He urged the private sector to come forward and work in driving RTE by making every child feel connected to nearby environment. This, he said, could be achieved by taking the curriculum beyond textbooks, ensuring required revisions were made to the curriculum on time, exams were more flexible and there was more sensitivity to the needs of the economically weaker sections.
Educationist and President, Tamanna, Dr. Shama Chona and Country Director, Young Lives, Dr. Renu Singh agreed with Dr. Singh on another grave concern that most encounter – to assess the utilization of funds and money of tax payers. Dr. Singh shared that the 2 per cent cess paid by everybody in the country was being effectively used for the Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan and in providing mid-day meals to children in schools.
Other speakers at the conference also approved of the key role NGOs were playing in this space and suggested more interventions such as assisting in ensuring that the funds were effectively deployed and making children more sensitive to the financially weaker sections of society.
The additional secretary exhorted CII to work on constructing a consortium of schools, NGOs and the government on making the impact more realistic. He appreciated the efforts of CII in coordinating and helping scale up the efforts of PPPs. He advised all small groups to work together and PPPs to ensure that funds were spent effectively by having guidelines, and spoke of the urgent requirement of having good principles, trained teachers and quality curriculum in schools.
Dr Amarjit Singh, Additional Secretary, Elementary Education, Dr Shyama Chona, Educationist & President, Tamanna with other eminent speakers at Conference on Role of nonprofit organizations in Implementing RTE on 8 Jan 2014 at New Delhi
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