IE: The Right to Education Bill focusses on minor details, not overall quality: Feb 13, 2009

 

T HE Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008 could potentially mark a watershed in the history of India. The Bill aims to strengthen our democracy through the provision of universal elementary education, in keeping with the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002, which makes elementary education a Fundamental Right for all children in the age group of 6-14 years. This is an issue that was debated even when the Constitution was first being drafted, and although education was not included as a Fundamental Right at that stage, there was agreement even then that the success of our fledgling democracy would eventually depend on an educated populace.

A closer reading of the Bill however, makes one wonder whether it would really be capable of meeting its lofty objectives. The process of arriving at consensusdecisions,soimportantinanydemocratic system, often ignores the larger objective, focusing insteadonthesmaller,moreacceptablebitsoftheissue. As a result, what is finally acceptable to all partiesisoftenananimalthattriesveryhardbutsatisfies no one completely, which indeed was the fate of the earlier version of this Bill in 2005. The present Bill unfortunately appears to be much the same.

Tostartwith,theBilliscompletelyinputoriented, with no reference to quality outcomes. For instance, to be a recognised institution, a school must provide a certain number of teachers based on the number of enrolled students; however, beyond specifyingthe so-calleddutiesof teachers,the Bill is silentonwhatactionshouldbetakeniftherequisite numberofteachersispresentbut—asissadlyoften the case in government schools — not teaching.

ChildreninschoolsinIndiaarealreadynotlearning verymuch. TheAnnualStatusofEducationReport (ASER)2008reportsthatnearly96percentchildren in the 6-14 year age group are enrolled in school. However, learning levels appear to be stagnant or declining, with for instance, only 41 percent across Grades1to8beingabletoreadsimplestoriesin2008 as opposed to 43.6 percent in 2005. Similarly, only 27.9 percent children across grades could do simple divisionsumsin2008,ascomparedto30.9percentin 2005. TheprovisionintheBillthatstipulatesthatno child shall be held back in any class is likely to compound this problem. The problem of children’s learning is thus neatly transferred to the secondary stage,albeitostensiblymeetingtheConstitutionalrequirementofprovidingelementaryeducation.

Most educational experts agree that the foundation for schooling is laid in the early years, between the ages of 3-6 years. Yet this Bill only enjoins upon the government to consider making necessary arrangements for providing free pre-school education. This follows from the flawed 86th Amendment itself, which restricts the right to education to those between the ages of 6-14 years, even though India is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which holds a citizen to be anyone below 18 years. There are many who believe that unless the 86th Amendment is revised to include all children up to 18 years, any legislation based on it is doomed to failure.

TheBillstipulatesthatforgrades1-5,foreverysixty childrenthereshallbetwoteachers,foreveryninety children, three and so on, thus legitimising multigrade teaching. Hence, even if the children were attending different grades, they would end up being taughtbythesameteacher,inthesameclassroom.

All that the present Bill effectively ensures is the right of children to enrol in and attend some form of school. The question that we must ask ourselves is whether we want our children to have a right to schooling or a right to education.

The writer was director in the HRD ministry, 2001-2006, and was associated with Right to Education Bill, 2005 drafting committee.

He now works with the SRF Foundation

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