Resource requirements for Right to Education (RTE): Normative and the Real

The paper examines the issue of resource adequacy for Right to Education (RTE) by estimating the resource requirement for universalization of elementary education across twelve Indian States. Using RTE norms as the base, a framework for estimating school and system level resource requirements is laid down. Apart from the official norms, framing of the normative must necessarily take into account the present structure of schools including the pattern of enrolment in government schools vis-à-vis private schools, existing infrastructure in these schools, school size etc. Database of school-level information has been used for the purpose. Actual budgetary expenditure presents the distance from the normative.