Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday demanded that the central  government meet cent per cent financial requirements under the right to free and compulsory education Act.

"Though we welcome the new act for free and compulsory educaion... the centre must bear the cent per cent burden on it as it is beyond the resources of a cash-strapped state like Bihar," Kumar told reporters here.

He said the state government was irrevocably committed to implementing the act and "in fact, we are already implementing it evident from the coverage of school going children in Bihar."

Earlier, there were more than 33 lakh children out of the schools but now now their numbers have come down to little over seven lakh which was because of the initiatives taken by the state government on education front, Kumar claimed.