The government needs to recruit 20 lakh teachers to successfully implement the Right to Education Act, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said on Monday.
The implementation of the Act was a difficult task and the only solution would be to hire teachers even if they did not have the required qualification. “In the course of five years these teachers need to acquire the qualification necessary for the position,” he said delivering the 38th Shree Ram Memorial lecture on ‘Inclusive Education for the Marginalised’ organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce here. “Hopefully, in ICT mission mode for higher education, in the next three years the government will bring broadband connectivity to schools, and by the end of the 11th [Five-Year] Plan, India will be fully connected with 22,000 colleges and 480 universities. We hope to connect all schools in a similar fashion by the end of the 12th Plan as well. To bring about quality inclusive education is the rationale behind all education reforms.”
Model schools in backward areas
Mr. Sibal also spoke about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s commitment to build 6,500 ‘model’ schools in backward areas; of these, 3,000 would be developed through public-private-partnership investment. This proposal would soon be put in the public domain. He asked the business community to join in. The government was willing to look at possible economic models to implement it.