The government doesn’t seem to be serious about extending the provision of free and compulsory education up to Class XII by amending the Right To Education (RTE) Act despite the National Education Policy (NEP) endorsing holistic education up to Class XII.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday chaired a key meeting of the National Advisory Council (NAC) on the Right To Education (RTE) Act and discussed several issues related to school education but did not hold any focused discussion on extending the ambit of the RTE Act.

The RTE Act now provides legal guarantees for free and compulsory education to children between six and 14 years.

Two officials of the ministry of education (MoE) said that the government in October 2021 set up a committee under then minister of state for education Annpurna Devi to reexamine the RTE Act in light of the NEP and suggest the necessary changes. This committee is learnt to have submitted a draft report supporting the extension of the RTE Act to cover all classes up to Class XII.

Educationists and activists were expecting that the NAC, the top advisory body on the RTE law, would discuss amending the Act to cover early childhood education and also secondary and higher secondary classes — from IX to XII.

“The present government has brought the NEP which talks about holistic education of 15 years for all children. Unless all classes are covered under the RTE Act, this objective cannot be achieved,” said Prince Gajendra Babu, an education activist.

The ministry officials said that the NAC discussed some states not properly implementing the provision of 25 per cent reservation to economically weaker section (EWS) students in private schools. The agenda also included the issue of untrained teachers in schools.

"The minister stressed quality education and said the government was in favour of providing quality education till Class XII. The RTE Act's ambit was not discussed," the official said.