New Delhi: The Central government may soon make education up to Class X free in all state-run schools, according to media reports.
The HRD ministry is mulling over the idea of providing free education in all state-run schools till the matriculate level, Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday.
“The HRD ministry is planning to overhaul India’s pre-school and secondary education system to ensure universal education till the matriculate level,” Dr SC Khuntia, secretary, school education and literacy, told Hindustan Times at the e-launch of Unicef’s The State of the World’s Children Report-2016 on Tuesday.
“We have formed a committee in the HRD ministry to evaluate the education for classes IX and X, which should be universalised,” he further added.
Currently, children are provided free and compulsory education up to Class VIII under the Right to Education Act.
A recent Unicef report states that universal education is still a distant dream in India. Over one-third (almost 36 per cent) of its students drop out before completing elementary education, claims the report.
Khuntia said the government is planning to formulate a policy in order to focus on pre-school education.
He also said that from the month of August, the delivery of Integrated Child Development Services that include de-worming medication, mid-day meal and iron supplementation will be tracked through smartphones.
“The ministry of women and child development and the health ministry have jointly developed an advanced software to ensure that these services reach the actual beneficiaries,” said Rajesh Kumar, joint secretary (ICDS-child development) in the ministry of women and child development.
