Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal on Monday criticized the state governments for not performing their duties. He put the blame of failure of the education system on state governments.

After releasing the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2011, he said there was no way that the central government could monitor all the schools.

“We can develop the policies but the state governments should get more proactive. They should not look at central government for solutions. Every state has a different problem. Some have problems of transportation, some are tackling with Naxals and for some education is not a priority,” he said.

The minister showed concern on the figures release by the report and said that central government cannot be blamed for everything.

He said, “There are states for which education is not a priority. I won’t name them because then it will be said it is a political speech,” adding, “What I am told here, you should make the chief ministers listen to it.”

The minister also said that the quality of education in schools largely depends on quality of recruitment which is controlled by the state government.

But most of the teachers being recruited are on contract and are not qualified. He also said that state governments are not on board on many of the education related issues.

He said “The text books which are provided by the state governments are not age equivalent. Whenever we ask the state government to implement the act, they ask for 100% expenditure. They must realize that the responsibility of education is on their shoulder.”

But the minister added that he is optimistic about the RTE act and that it will bring change in the education system.