Funds under Right to Education need not be linked to National Education Policy: Madras HC to Centre
Funds payable by the Union government to state governments under the Right to Education Act need not be linked to the implementation of the National Education Policy, the Madras High Court said on Tuesday, according to Live Law.
A bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan urged the Centre to release to Tamil Nadu the funds under the Right to Education Act.
'It is true that implementation of the Samagra Siksha Scheme is aligned to NEP 2020, but the obligation under RTE is independent by itself,' Live Law quoted the bench as saying.
The Samagra Shiksha scheme, implemented in 2018, is the scheme through which the Union government provides support for elementary and secondary school education.
In April, the Union Education Ministry had told the Rajya Sabha that Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal received no funds under the central education scheme for 2024-'25.
Data shared in the Upper House by Minister of State for Education Jayant Choudhary showed that while Kerala was allocated Rs 328.90 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs 2,151.60 crore and West Bengal Rs 1,745.80 crore from the Centre for the current fiscal year under the scheme, no funds had been released to these states as of March 27.
The halt in funding to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal came against the backdrop of these states refusing to comply with the PM Schools for Rising India, or PM SHRI, scheme.
The centrally-sponsored scheme aims to upgrade the infrastructure of schools managed by central, state or regional bodies. However, to avail the scheme's benefits, state governments must first sign a memorandum of understanding with the Centre to implement the 2020 National Education Policy.
Tamil Nadu has repeatedly expressed opposition to the three-language formula in the National Education Policy. The state government said it will not change its decades-old two-language policy of teaching students Tamil and English.
Of the total funds pending to be paid to the state, the Right to Education component amounts to Rs 200 crore, according to The Hindu.
On Tuesday, the High Court pointed out that under section 7 of the Right to Education Act, states and the Union government have concurrent responsibility for providing funds to carry out its provisions.
'Therefore, funds payable to the state governments representing the central government share towards discharging the RTE obligations need not be linked to NEP 2020,' said the bench.
It also took note that the state government had moved the Supreme Court against the Centre withholding funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme.
'We are not in a position to issue any binding direction in this regard,' said the bench, urging the Union government to consider delinking the Right to Education component from the Samagra Siksha Scheme.
The court was disposing of a public interest litigation petition seeking directions to the Tamil Nadu government to begin admissions under the Right to Education Act for 2025-'26.
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