AC recommends pre-primary sections in govt schools

NEW DELHI: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said the National Advisory Council (NAC) has recommended addition of pre-primary sections in all government schools.

NAC has recommended that this (pre-primary sections in government schools) will pave the way for "bringing pre-school learning under the purview of RTE Act", Sibal told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

He said the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) has also recommended extension of RTE to secondary stages of education, following which the government has approved constitution of a CABE committee to formulate the draft legislation and estimate the requirement of funds for extension of the RTE Act.

As per a government estimate, 14.25 lakh additional classrooms in primary and upper primary levels are needed to meet the RTE Act. Besides, there are requirement of over five lakh teachers.

Sibal said the Planning Commission has constituted an inter-ministerial group to examine various matters relating to restructuring of the integrated child development services scheme.