RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT

The enactment of Right to Education is considered as a proactive legislation intended to ensure free and compulsory schooling to children of the age group of 6 – 14 that has come into force since April 1, 2010. India has also joined with the other 130 countries for providing free and compulsory education to children as a legal guarantee under the provisions of the Constitution. RTE enables any child to walk to his/her neighborhood school and assert the right to be admitted. Although, it may be boosted as an achievement by a section of the society, one has to be cautious about its implementation in toto in view of the poor track records of such model legislations in the past.

Our Constitution guarantees education as one of the fundamental rights of a citizen, a large chunk of Indians are not even aware of this noble piece of constitutional provision and our leaders are also seem to be less concerned to make effective measures to make it as a success. This is because of the fact that the poor are struggling to have the basic necessities of day to day life and in such a scenario, they also turn to their children for their contribution to support the family in whatever way possible. According to a rough estimate, 150 million children work as bonded laborers in our country and it is also a well known fact that they are half starved and malnourished in comparison with their counterparts in developed countries.

As a matter of fact that our constitution enshrines guarantee against discrimination, but it is vague regarding the right of life and livelihood, and there are restrictions of converting to religious faith of one’s choice etc. The constitutional provisions to protect the civil rights of a citizen are quite often not implemented and the authorities who are concerned to oversee its effects sometimes abuse and harass the people. There are countries which do not provide any guarantee for free and compulsory education to children. However, they are having the resources and abilities to influence the parents to send their children, so that they may not be a burden to the society later on and further the educational system itself is designed in such a way that when they grow up they will not have any difficulty to earn their bread and butter. It is a rosy picture of one side of the coin, but the other side is the discrimination and unsupportive attitude of the authorities to maintain the status quo of a particular section of the society due to social and historical reasons. But, their miserable stories are not highlighted in the media and no one is interested to report their social, cultural and economic status, since it would not be an attractive job. Although such a situation exists in developed nations, thousands of Indians are prepared to spend a considerable portion of their savings or by borrowing the money from financial institutions to settle in these countries with a dream of better tomorrow.

The model laws enacted for social justice seldom help the concerned sections of the society, as the levels of dishonesty and corruptions prevailing in our country make hurdles for its sincere implementation. Not only that unscrupulous elements extort money from hapless people including women, who can not run from pillar to post. Nowadays, we hear the cases of judges and cops whose roles to grease the palms of the culprits to make fast buck close their eyes conveniently before the rule of law and fair legal system which should have been worked for the welfare of the general public.

Our MPs are asked to vote for a particular legislative piece by their party do not have th right to open their mouths and hence they have become the tools of manipulators and lobbyists who are in need of various concessions for their trade and business whose interests are to earn money from the people without giving much to the price paid by them. Therefore, without proper infrastructure and addressing most important issues like unemployment, under wages and lack of support from the concerned authorities, RTE is not going to become a successful tool to support the have nots to stand up on their own feet thereby to achieve economic independence and status in the society.

The declaration and commitment of our Hon’ble Prime Minister that financial constraints do not hamper the implementation of the Right to Education Act. He knows the financial implications of implementing it in a time frame of six years and the gigantic sum required for the same. According to eminent educationist, Vimala Ramachandran “It’s not just about hiring 12 lakh more teachers, how are you going to get teachers to go and each in these government schools, especially in North India, West Bengal and Oriisa, where they are not functioning. The right is not just about the building of school, but the learning experiences”, she reminds.

Kapil Sibal is quite proud to announce that the RTE provides the opportunity to “do away with the myth that government can’t provide quality education”. However, in stark reality, even the lower middle class people prefer to send their wards to private schools show that there are very less takers for his bold statements. It means that the Government Schools have to come out with concrete measures and show that deprived sections are serious in their educational facilities offered by a Government School. Further, The earmarking o 25% seats in private schools for children hailing from economically weaker sections may become a impractical proposal, as who will see minutely regarding their sincerity and honesty in the matter ?

Certain provisions of RTE Act such as quota for poor sections are not going to be smooth, as the private schools have started asking whether the Government will hike the fees of the Schools or Grants will be allotted to them in lieu of their loss of 25% seats.

On the one hand the parents are already reeling under crushing inflation shall have to eke out something from their pockets directly or indirectly to support education under RTE. In order to achieve a sembalance of success of RTE Act, the first and foremost task is to improve the infrastructure and quality of education in government run schools and for this there must be popular support in favour of the new Act by augmenting their sources of income to donate a part for the welfare of the children belonging to poorest of poor section of the people of our country.

In order to revolutionise the existing system, it must be mandatory for every candidate who may contest in the next general elections to withdraw their kins from reputed and costlier private schools and put them in government run schools to show the world that they have no inhibition to send their wards to such schools which in turn would create an impression that change is taking place in government schools. Otherwise, this Act will be another tool to squeeze the pockets of already burdened geneal public to pay the tax in some or other ways to implement the Act without having any vision and mission and thus the middle men, unscrupulous elements and vested interested sections will usurp the money meant for this model and ambitious RTE Act.