IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION (RTE) SCHEME IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS WITH A FOCUS ON FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: EVIDENCE FROM NAGPUR DISTRICT

Article 21-A of the Indian Constitution came to be known as the Right to Education (RTE)
Act, 2009, which mandates free and compulsory schooling for children aged between six and fourteen
years and a new paradigm of elementary education in India. However, ten years on, there are concerns
regarding the efficacy of the financial management, the awareness of the stakeholders, and the effect
on the ground level of enrollment and quality results. The purpose of this paper is to provide an indepth impact assessment of the RTE scheme in primary schools in Nagpur District, Maharashtra, and
financial management practices, in particular. The survey was planned as a mixed survey (crosssectional survey) with the primary data to be collected on 276 respondents (head teachers, classroom
teachers, members of the School Msanagement Committee (SMC), and officers of the Block Resource
Centre/Cluster Resource Centre (BRC/CRC) in 46 government and private-aided schools. The main
ones were structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that the
central RTE provisions knowledge is relatively good, whereas the elements of financial management,
in the manifestation of timely reimbursement, fund transparency, and SMC financial competence, are
still deplorable. Gross enrollment ratios and attendance of children in the economically weaker section
(EWS) have also increased, but indicators of quality and standards of infrastructure are
underdeveloped. Bureaucratic delays in the process of disbursement of funds and weak audit systems
are the most significant obstacles. According to the research, it is recommended that the fiscal
devolution to SMCs, the development of a real-time financial tracking portal, and the capacity building
of local governance actors should be strengthened in order to help make the RTE effective in Nagpur
District.