ways to ensure free and compulsory education to the children in the village
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The Right to Education Act 2009, also known as the RTE Act 2009, was enacted by the Parliament of India on 4 August 2009. It describes modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children aged between 6-14 years in India under Article 21 (A) of the Constitution of India. This act came into effect on 1 April 2010 and made India one of the 135 countries to have made education a fundamental right for every child. It prescribes minimum norms for elementary schools, prohibits unrecognised schools from practice and advocates against donation fees and interviews of children at the time of admission. The Right to Education Act keeps a check on all neighbourhoods through regular surveys and identifies children who are eligible for receiving education but do not have the means to.
Educational challenges have been prevalent at both the centre and states for many years in India. The Right to Education Act 2009 maps out roles and responsibilities for the centre, state and all local bodies to rectify gaps in their education system in order to enhance the quality of education in the country.
Compulsory and free education for all
It is obligatory for the Government to provide free and compulsory elementary education to each and every child, in a neighbourhood school within 1 km, up to class 8 in India. No child is liable to pay fees or any other charges that may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. Free education also includes the provisions of textbooks, uniforms, stationery items and special educational material for children with disabilities in order to reduce the burden of school expenses.
In 2013, Oxfam India critiqued Right to Education (RTE) Forum’s Stocktaking Report 2013, which evaluated the three year progress of the Right to Education Act since its enactment in 2009. While considerable progress was made on aspects like primary level enrolment rates, launching new schools, appointment of new teachers and ensuring safe drinking water and toilet facilities for children, the overall delivery did not live up to the expectations. Oxfam India in its policy brief recommended five solutions to rectify gaps and loopholes in order to enhance implementation and effectiveness of the Right to Education Act 2009.
Answer:
The first law on 'compulsory' education was introduced by the State of Baroda in 1906 whereas, the first documented use of the word 'right' in the context of elementary education appeared in a letter written by Rabindranath Tagore in the year 1908. In 1937, Mahatma Gandhi mooted the idea of self-supporting 'basic education' for a period of seven years through vocational and manual training.
Even, our Constitutional Framers wanted to make provision for this right, but this intent was finally passed as Article 45 under Directive Principles of State Policy, which are not enforceable by the Courts. However, the year 2002, witnessed a change in the Constitution, brought in by the 86th Amendment Act, 2002 which made primary education a 'fundamental right' through the inclusion of new Article 21-A.
Now, finally in 2009, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 is passed by the Union Parliament. It received the President assent on 26th August, 2009 . Now, every child of the age of '6-14' years will have the right to 'free' and 'compulsory' education in a neighbourhood school till completion of his/ her 'elementary' education.
The Act is fragmented into thirty seven sections which are categorized into seven chapters and one schedule. The Preamble of the Act expressly promises to provide for 'free' and 'compulsory' education to 'all' children of the age of six to fourteen years.
'Free' education in the sense that the children of the prescribed age group shall be exempted from any fees, charges or expenses, which will prevent him or her from pursuing elementary education . 'Compulsory' in respect of compulsory admission, attendance and completion of the elementary education for such children . However, this free and compulsory elementary education is restricted to education from Class 1 to 8 only!
The Act covers children who are already 6 years old. Therefore, it seems to be contradicting Supreme Court's judgment in Unnikrishnan case in 1993 , giving all children 'upto' 14 years of age, a Fundamental Right to Education. Pre-school support is essential for children, and ignoring them less than six years of age could lead to the promotion of child labour and other forms of discrimination. How far is this justified or warranted?
The Draftsmen seems to have been well acquainted with the huge population and concurrently the illiteracy rates in our country, for the Act takes into consideration, the children who are either not admitted, or who have not completed their elementary education for any reason. In such cases, that child will be admitted in a class appropriate to his/her age and a right is vested in such children to receive special training and moreover, the child so admitted to elementary education will be entitled to free education till completion of elementary education even after fourteen years , which I feel is the best part of the Act.
Moreover, the disadvantaged and economically weaker sections have also been considered. The Act provides for twenty five percent reservations of seats in all, including private unaided schools for poor children in the neighbourhood for which the government would reimburse/ pay back the money towards these seats . However, the formula for arriving at the rates has not been reflected. Moreover, at this juncture, a question that arises is that when the poor are 75%, why only 25% reservation for their children in private schools? Isn't this violates the right to 'equality' guaranteed to all.
Moving on to the disabled children, the law seems little conscious, but some aspects seems to be missing. As it has not detailed on the facilities needed to enable these children with disabilities to attend school. Moreover, in the Act, 'disability' has the meaning assigned by the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, but it fails to cover such other disabilities as defined by the National Trust Act, 1999 i.e., excluding children with mental and learning disabilities.
To some extent, it seems to violate the 'minorities' right to establish and administer educational institution of their choice. The provisions regarding the Management Committee under the Act are inconsistent with these rights. Therefore, the Government is likely to amend this Section, to exempt the minority institutions from implementing admission quota and give them right to form governing body of their choice.
Little discrimination against private schools is reflected in the Act, as private schools are required to get recognition after fulfilling various infrastructure norms, whereas, the government schools are automatically recognised . Looking at it in a different perspective, it seems as the Act is indirectly offering scope for corruption as these private schools can be set up only after certification of recognition from the authority as may be prescribed . Wouldn't this lead to an 'Inspector Raj'?
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