QUALITY EDUCATION IS RIGHT OF EVERY STUDENT
History suggests that just formulating the
laws will not turn to be the solution of any problem. Formulation of law is
just part of the solution and to get rid of any problem one has to dig the root
cause of that problem. Education plays vital role in shaping the students by in
turn shaping the family, state and nation.
Eventhough , Education plays a vital role
in the process of nation-building, yet it is seldom accorded the importance it
deserves. It falls far behind in budgetary allocation when compared to the
defense sector.
On April 1, 2010, the then
prime minister had introduced the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act, 2009, also known as the RTE Act. A crucial act, RTE designates
education as the fundamental right of all children aged between 6 and 14 years.
Once the Act came into
effect, India joined the ranks of 135 other countries in making education a
fundamental right of every child. The Act also provides that no child shall be
held back, expelled until the completion of elementary education. There is also
a provision for special training for school drop-outs to bring them at par with
other students of their age.
The RTE Act requires
conducting surveys that will monitor all neighborhoods, identify children in
need of education, and set up facilities for providing it.
The truth:
The Act includes the words ‘Free education’
and ‘compulsory education’. However, before getting to the fulfillment of this
law at the grassroot level, one must define the term ‘education’. If it means
just enrolling students to class I and passing out in class VIII, then it can
be said that the Act has met its objective. Despite the fact that about 10%
students have not even seen schools, it would still mean that it has proved
useful for at least for 90% of the students.
Garbage under the carpet:
However, education doesn’t just mean to put
kids in school. The actual success of education can be calibrated depending
upon the skill, confidence, eligibility of the kid when it comes to facing the
world, capability to earn his or her daily bread, social and cultural approach,
vision at the time of leaving school, among other things. Just pushing students
up to class VIII doesn’t mean that it meets the objectives of the RTE Act. As
of now, what is happening in the name of meeting the objective of the Act, at
least on paper, is similar to sweeping the garbage under the carpet — hiding
the actual facts.
Education helps one understand a situation,
take the challenge and explore the means to achieve the goals. Education is the
single most important factor in the development of a developing country.
Undoubtedly, education plays a crucial role in the society and in the economy
of any country. A lot of economists and scientists claim that the economic and
social well-being of any state depends on education. Wiping out corruption,
state of peace totally depends upon the quality of education rendered by the
government.
Fiasco of 25% reservation
underlines the success(?):
It will not be entirely wrong to say that
three years on, the Act is still a nightmare on the ground level. A lot of
times it has been brought to the fore that the doors of private schools
remained closed for those from the financially weaker sections. Fact is that
the education department had totally lost control over private schools and by
virtue of that implementation 25% quota in private schools will never prove
helpful in rendering the quality education under RTE.
Forget about the private schools. The basic
question in minds of crores of parents of this country is that why the
government is unable to render quality education in spite of having thousands
of schools and despite spending crores year after year. Even though the success
of 25 % taken as a granted , the question mark is always there on remaining 75
% students admitted in Govt schools. Basically point is that the Govt must
concentrate on improving the quality of education in self schools instead of
throwing the ball in court of private schools. This will be better option in
fulfilling the RTE.
Right to fair and just
education:
Even though the RTE Act has a inclusion of
free education provision, parents don't opt for it. Given the donations and
fees in several thousands and lakhs of various aided and unaided schools, the
term free education in the Act stands false. To fix the upper limit under the
fees regulatory Act for every section — per-primary, primary, secondary — will
be the right step towards fair education in country.
To deliver quality education
to every child of this nation is the duty of government. And, to be able to
fulfill the duty, the government must concentrate equally on both government as
well as aided government/private schools and unaided private schools. By
keeping aided private and unaided private schools outside the umbrella to meet
the objective of the Act, the Act itself will become nightmarish.
In fact, the Act should be
implemented from per-primary to class XII. Limiting it to class VIII doesn't
hold much sense.
