Vijayawada: Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD) D. Purandeswari called the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009was a historic legislation that aimed at increasing the literacy rate throughout the country and effectively achieve the universal elementary education in India.

D. Purandeswari was speaking at the valedictory of a regional workshop that was organized by the Rajiv Vidya Mission Krishna district on Friday.

"There has been an observation that literacy levels should be around 80 percent for a country to sustain its growth and development process. The gross enrollment ratio should also touch 20 percent. The plans of the UPA government are addressing these issues," she said.

She further asserted that the Indian government had introduced the RTE Act after a range of wide consultations and there should not be any reason to doubt or fear over the implementation of the act. "If any of the states encounter any problem at the field level, they will be provided support by the Centre," she stated.

Purandeswari affirmed the commitment of the Central government to bringing dropout students back to school. She informed that Rs.2.31 lakh crore had been allocated for a period of five years to achieve the goals of the RTE Act throughout the country.

She also pointed out that the states were unwilling to bear the 45 percent share for the implementation of RTE, the Centre will offer to reduce the burden by 10 percent and make the agree to implement the RTE.

The HRD minister of state also asked teachers to make efforts for creating global and responsible citizens and help in leading the country towards the 21st century that is knowledge driven.

She also informed that efforts were currently on to strengthen education related programmes. A trial ahs also been carried out for providing nutritious food to 13 crore students. Purandeswari asked teachers, NGOs and departments to participate actively in passing the benefits of the RTE Act to the disadvantaged.

Talking about the School of Planning and Architecture in Vijayawada, D. Purandeswari said that the classes for institute were currently being held at the Acharya Nagarjuna University and a complete building will be developed when the land is provided by the state government.

She informed that around 10 acres of land had been provided earlier on the Government Polytechnic College premises but it had not been adequate.