New Delhi: "The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has become a reality and also that the Act has provisions which have been welcomed by teachers." This was stated by Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal during his address at the National award ceremony for teachers on Teachers Day.

He pointed out that there remains the problem of non-transparent and arbitrary postings and transfers of teachers.

He said, "I believe that the time has come for every State Government /UT Administration to prepare enforceable rules, which should ensure a rational and transparent system of postings and transfers."

"It should also be kept in mind that women teachers have demanding domestic responsibilities and their special circumstances should be given due consideration."

Sibal also underlined the high expectations from teachers that the RTE has, which includes their full involvement with the functioning of School Management Committees (SMCs), and accountability towards the "local authority" regarding rights of children.

He also said that the Act invokes a moral response from the teaching profession - a response which would enable the country to turn the corner in this crucial area of human development.

He emphasized that while teachers should be able to safeguard their dignity and their rights as members of an esteemed profession, there should be no compromise with the errant behavior of teachers.

The minister spoke about how The National Curriculum Framework - 2005 recommended moving away from the examination system and reducing stress on children by integrating evaluation with the learning process and assessing them continuously on various parameters on a regular basis.

He said, "For the effective implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) we need to reform our examination system. A beginning has already been made in this direction by introducing the grading system."

"To implement CCE in a more effective manner we need to work closely with NCERT, CBSE and State Boards so that our children will be assessed on their fundamental competencies to understand and construct knowledge, not on their capacity to rote learn information from the text books and reproduce it in examinations."

374 teachers were given the award by the President, from across the states and Union Territories in the country, besides awards given to teachers under some other categories including CBSE teachers, CISCE teachers, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan teachers, Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan teachers, etc. Each award consists of a Certificate of Merit, a Silver Medal and a Cash Prize of Rs. 25,000.