Education Becomes A Basic Right For All Children In India

[Azaad]

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Elementary Education Act came into force in the country today amid an emotional appeal of collective effort by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and loads of applauses for the government from various parties, including those in the Opposition — the BJP and the Left.

With challenges staring the government in the eye, the PM, in a historic address, dedicated the law to India’s children, inspiring them with vignettes from his life: “I’m what I am today because of education,” he said, reminiscing of his modest childhood and of days when he would walk for miles to get to school.

“I read under the dim light of a kerosene lamp and I want every Indian child, girl or boy, to be touched by the light of education,” said the PM as India moved into the coveted league of nations that guarantee education as a fundamental right to their children.

This is the first time that the PM addressed the country on a social welfare issue. Manmohan recalled the 100-year old resolve of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who urged the Imperial Legislative Assembly to confer on the Indian people the Right to Education.

“About 90 years later, the Constitution was amended to enshrine the Right to Education as a fundamental right. Today, we come before you to redeem the pledge of giving all our children the right to elementary education.

The RTE Act, enacted by Parliament in August 2009, has come into force today,” the Prime Minister said, reassuring the states that finances would not be allowed to hamper the law and reassuring parents of education for every child, irrespective his/her social strata. With the RTE Act coming into force today, the fundamental right to education as incorporated in the Constitution under Article 21 A also became operative.

The PM linked the law to the nation’s future, saying the health, education and creative abilities of our children and young people would determine the well-being and strength of the country.

“It is our belief that if we nurture our children and young people with right education, India's future as a strong and prosperous country is secure,” the Prime Minister said, calling upon the teachers to become a partner in the national endeavour and promised improved working conditions for them on a day when India makes the historic pledge of educating 22 crore children aged between 6 and 14 years.

[Azaad]

In three years from today, over 65,000 out-of-school children in Punjab should be in classrooms, over 11,000 posts of teacher should be filled and almost 8,000 unrecognised private schools should be recognised. The implementation of the Right To Education Act began across the country today and the state Education Department is gearing up for the challenge.

Special committees have been constituted to study various aspects of the Act and compare it with the situation on the ground. “These panels include both educationists and representatives of the general public and have been asked to suggest to the government what need to be done to make the implementation of the Act effective,” said Director-General, School Education, Krishan Kumar.

“The first priority is the 65,000 out-of-school children in Punjab. The majority of these belong to migrants. Of these, over 30,000 are over the age of six years. As a run up to the implementation of the Act, we have started learning centres inside some schools where these children are undergoing bridge courses before they are admitted to their class. It is a Herculean task but we will be able to show results,” said Krishan Kumar. With regard to infrastructure and teachers, Punjab is on a stronger footing than many other states. “We will only need about 4,000 extra classes in schools already running for the implementation of the Act,” said Krishan Kumar.

The Act states that there should be a school in every neighbourhood. “Till the neighbourhood is defined, we cannot say if we will need to construct more schools or not. However, we have at least one primary school in each village. Some villages have more than one. And there is an upper primary school for every two villages. This is the ideal ratio as laid down in the Government of India,” he said.

Almost 8,000 unrecognised private schools would have to be brought under the government’s control. Many of these schools are running from small buildings without much infrastructure. The model provisions of the Act have identified the minimum standards for private schools. “Recognition will be done by the Education Department, whether a special committee does it or district-level officers do it is yet to be decided,” added Krishan Kumar. The Act will lead to a larger government control over government schools. Though the Act does not lay down any restriction on fee that is demanded by private school, every penny paid by the parent would have to be notified by a private school. A private school will also have to provide the midday meal.

The good news for teachers is that other than elections, census and disaster duties, they will not be asked to do anything beyond teaching. “However, they will have to do education-related survey work,” said Krishan Kumar.

[I humbly bow]

Awww how lovely :D