BANGALORE: A section of primary teachers in the State have asked the Centre to frame a law to enforce the fundamental right of children to free and quality education.

The teachers said the Union Government had a responsibility to imparting elementary education to children, which was a fundamental right.

The teachers, under the aegis of Akhila Karnataka Prathamika Shikshaka Sangha, organised a daylong dharna in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue here on Wednesday.

The dharna was part of the all-India protest called by the All India Primary Teachers' Federation.

Sangha's chief patron K.S. Sharma said not much effort had been made by the Centre or the State Government in the enforcement of the right to free and compulsory education for the children aged between six and 14. Not much was done when the right was part of the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution. No progress had been made even after education was made as a fundamental right in 2002.

Mr. Sharma said the Centre framed the Right to Education Bill in 2005 and this was yet to become an Act. The Centre was averse in spending Rs. 63,000 crore, which was the estimated cost for providing elementary education.

The Centre was shifting its responsibility to the States by directing them to enact an Act based on the Model Right to Education Bill 2006 prepared by it.

Mr. Sharma said the Model Bill had unjust provisions. The federation had made 14 demands.

They include free and quality education to all children on a compulsory basis, increasing allocation for education, and uniform pay scale for all primary school teachers in the country.

The sangha has presented the demands in the form of memorandum to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. It has threatened to launch a "jail bharo" programme if the demands were not considered in two months.

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