OPINION

Right to Education

A noble thought, but will it work?

P. N. V. Nair

Under this Act, government schools will continue to provide free education to all children and it is legally binding on private schools to set aside 25 per cent of seats for poor students free of cost. The Act is applicable to both aided and non-aided schools. A brainwave of Human Resources minister Kapil Sibal, the Act stipulates the constitution of a National Commission for Elementary Education to monitor all aspects of primary education, including quality and access to poor children.

The big question is how will the government enforce this right? Education is a fundamental right under the Constitution and nobody stops a poor child from going to school. Girls up to Std XII are already eligible for free education, which is being extended to the post-graduate level. However, the truth is that this right is not being exercised by the poor because of the vested interests of the parents and the lack of sufficient neighbourhood schools. Because they are poor and hungry, the parents want the children to earn for their food at a tender age. Even after elementary education, where are the jobs, they ask. So is it not better to start early without wasting time in schools until the age of 14?

When a right is not enjoyed or exercised by the people, how can the government make it compulsory? Does the government intend to send enforcement personnel to every hut, pick up the children and put them in classrooms? Come on Mr Sibal, the entire concept is an exercise in futility.

If the government wants to give compulsory education to everyone, where are the schools? Education is a state subject and several states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, have already stated that they have no money to implement the Act. The implementation of the Act would require Rs 1.71 lakh crore for the next five years. The sharing of funds between the Centre and the state governments is in the ratio of 55:45. Granted that the states are persuaded by the Centre to set up additional schools, they will still find it difficult to get sufficient number of trained teachers. Even now it is a pathetic sight in the rural areas that have schools without proper buildings, toilets and playgrounds, and classrooms without teachers. There is already a shortage of 5 lakh teachers, while there are about 3 lakh untrained teachers at elementary stage.

As expected, the private school managements are protesting against the extra financial burden by reserving 25% of seats for the poor free of cost. The minister says that these schools will be compensated to the extent of what the government spends on the elementary education of each child in government schools. This is just peanuts and naturally not acceptable to the private schools that charge huge amounts as annual fee, besides a hefty amount as donation at the time of admission.

The right to education covers children in the age group of 6-14 or standard 1 to VIII. It is a well-known fact that the general category children attend nursery schools (Junior KG and Senior KG) before getting admission to Class 1 at the age of 5. How will the poor students who come to Class 1 at the age of 6 without attending the nursery schools cope with the lessons, especially in the elitist schools. It will be a difficult task for the teachers as well to teach the two levels of children in the same class. Again, if all the children are automatically promoted to the next standard, how do we know that they have received meaningful instruction in the class? More important, if the poor students discontinued studies at the age of 14 from Class 8, there would be a big vacuum in Class 9 and 10 which cannot be filled The Act should have covered children in the age group of 5-15 so that they would have been able to complete SSC, the minimum basic education to go in for some professional courses.

Well, the Act brings some hope to disadvantaged children, especially in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar etc, where the literacy rate is very low. Imagine the social awakening, uplift of the society even if a small percentage of such children get into schools which offer quality education. The government has made a beginning by introducing the right to education. It is for the children to grab the opportunity and rewrite their destinies. The Act contains a message to the school managements that they too should change. They should not run educational institutions as commercial establishments to make money but as an agent of social change by offering quality education to all irrespective of caste, religion and economic disparities. The message is loud and clear. But in a corrupt society - India ranks 10th in the world - we are expecting too much. There are schools without classrooms, students and teachers in some parts of the country. All for getting grants from the government! Will the new Act make life different for children? Will more children get to the classrooms than toiling in work places at a tender age?

P. N. V. Nair is an accomplished investigative journalist with over 45 years experience in national newspapers. Currently the Editor of Food & Beverage News and Ingredients South Asia, he drew inspiration from the late Ramnath Goenka of the Indian Express Group and the late Russy Karanjia of Blitz.