EFFECTIVENESS OF RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT 2009 IN PRIMARY AND UPPER PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF DISTRICT ALMORA, UTTARAKHAND: AN EVALUATIVE STUDY

The Right to Education Act, a fundamental right provides for free and compulsory education for every child between the age group of 6-14 years. While the Act has made the State responsible for educating each and every child, it has restricted the agencies that can provide education. Section 19 of the Act states “Where a school established before the commencement of this Act does not fulfil the norms and standards specified in the RTE schedule, it shall take steps to fulfil such norms and standards specified in the schedule at its own expenses within a period of 3 years from the commencement of the Act”. According to this, both the recognised and unrecognised schools will have to meet the new norms for recognition under the RTE Act. The unrecognised schools would additionally have to meet the present State norms for recognition. In the light of it, the paper aims to explore the effectiveness of the RTE Act in the Almora district of Uttarakhand