Bhubaneswar, Dec. 15: A discrimination in school education in the state came to the fore at the Right To Education Stock Taking Convention that started in the city today.

Four years after the Right To Education (RTE) Act came to force in the state, there still remains a gap in terms of resources, facilities and efficiency among the private schools that cater to the better-off strata of the society and the government-run institutes, alleged participants at the event.

Even within the government schools, there exists a difference between the central institutions and those run by municipalities and village panchayats, said educators at the two-day event, organised by the Oisha RTE Forum. The forum is an umbrella group of principal education networks and agencies, civil society organisations, teacher unions and concerned individuals that track and evaluate the RTE compliance in the state.

"Though the state government has made certain efforts to comply with the RTE norms through steps such as notification of the rules, improvement of school infrastructure, formation of school management committees, banning of corporal punishment, such efforts have often been sporadic and rigor in implementation missing on most occasions. This is reflected at the ground level, where the basic RTE norms are still not in place in schools," said convener Anil Pradhan.

According to sources, only 3 per cent schools meet the RTE norms in the state. "The RTE compliance is even less than 1 per cent in some places such as Malkangiri and Nabarangpur," he said.

Odisha was the second state after Sikkim to notify the rules of implementation of the act.