Minister of State for Education, Anil Deshmukh, who attended the conference in the Capital on October 22 and 23, today admitted that no concrete assurance was given by HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee about Maharashtra's demands. Addressing the Press in Mantralaya this afternoon, Deshmukh said the government had expected substantial help from the Union Government in important areas of education in the State.

``The State Government wants to extend free educational facilities to girls up to graduation level including professional courses. The Union Government has to bear the extra financial burden for providing these facilities to over 16 lakh girls in the State,'' Deshmukh said. He added that the State Government wasasked to prepare a package for free education to girls, after studying which the Union Government would take a decision.

Deshmukh also asked the Central Government for assistance in different schemes like Operation Black Board, the CLASS project and National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education. ``I requested that these schemes, especially the mid-day meal scheme be extended to all non-aided schools in the State and municipal schools in Mumbai. The State Government wants to implement these schemes in 103 talukas against the present 80 talukas. I was told that the demands would be considered seriously,'' he added.

The State Government had also asked for a whopping Rs 2,100 crore financial aid from the Union Government for making elementary education a fundamental right. ``Making education a fundamental right would mean opening new schools, constructing new buildings, recruiting more teachers and other infrastructure. There is no firm answer from the Centre in this regard,'' Deshmukhsaid.

The minister's next demand was about setting of the National Elementary Education Mission (NEEM) for implementing universal elementary education in a time-bound framework. For this demand alone, Deshmukh received a positive reply as a committee was set up including a representative of the State.

Apart from these demands, Deshmukh announced that the State Government would include environment as compulsory subject in curriculam from coming academic year. ``The subject will be for students of class 5 to 10 and will focus on creating awareness in their minds. The performance of the students will be judged in grades at the end of the year,'' Deshmukh said. He added that the State Government would definitely implement the pre-primary act from next year.