No Child Left Behind
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill promises to deliver elementary education to all children. But it suffers from some serious lacunae as well, argues Shabina Akhtar
Time for school: Free quality education for every Indian child may soon become a reality
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008, which was tabled in Parliament recently, has the potential to turn India into a fully literate country in a few years. By promising free and compulsory education to children between 6 and 14 years, and introducing such measures as banning the screening of parents and children at the time of admission, or reserving seats for the underprivileged in all schools, the bill aims to make sure that every Indian child can at least complete his or her elementary education.
Drafted by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), the bill was formulated in accordance with the 86th Constitutional amendment of 2002, an amendment that made education a fundamental right. It stipulates that children above six years of age who have never been admitted to a school or could not complete elementary education shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his or her age, without a screening test or the payment of any capitation fees. It also prohibits a school from failing a child (in the age group of six to 14 years) and makes it mandatory for all schools government and private to reserve 25 per cent of their seats to accommodate underprivileged children. State governments have been given three years to implement the provisions of the bill.
The bill aims at making education compulsory for all. The clauses related to the quota policy, non-refusal of admission for lack of age proof and the non-retention of students in a class till the completion of elementary education have been introduced to achieve this end, explains Vinod Raina, member, CABE.
However, experts point out that proper implementation of the bill will need a huge infusion of funds. Most schools in rural areas suffer from a sorry lack of infrastructure and the government will have to spend a large amount of money to bring them up to scratch and to ensure that there are enough trained teachers to impart education at the elementary level. To take just one example, according to the District Information System for Education (DISE) 2007-2008 report of the Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan in West Bengal, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have a dropout rate of 32.39 and 38.3 per cent, respectively. The reason cited for the dropouts is the lack of upper primary schools in rural areas. We have found that government-run schools have little by way of infrastructure, says Sridhar Rajagopalan, managing director, Education Initiatives, Ahmedabad, a body which assesses how much a student has learnt in one academic year.
The government will have to cough up Rs 55,000 crore annually to execute this law. With the state governments always complaining about lack of funds and about the Centre not coming forward to assist them, the law is sure to face a serious funds crunch, predicts Anand Pradhan, associate professor, Indian Institute of Mass Communications, New Delhi.
The government has, in fact, made some effort to address the issue of providing adequate funds to bring in education for all. The bill has a provision whereby it can request the President to direct the Finance Commission to allocate funds to the states for implementing the provisions of the bill.
However, though there is no doubt that the bill represents a quantum leap in the field of education in our country, experts point out that it suffers from some serious lacunae. Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan, lecturer at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, and managing trustee of Saket, an NGO which works towards empowering the marginalised through education, feels that the bill is myopic. Education cannot be made compulsory if child labour is not rooted out completely, he says. The Child Labour Act, 1986, needs to be amended to curb child labour before and after school hours. Besides, the bill is silent on how parents who refuse to send their children to school are to be dealt with.
Again, though the bill stipulates that every school should have a student-teacher ratio of 40:1, experts say that it does not go into how this is to be achieved. Barring those in the city and its suburbs, most schools in West Bengal have a student-teacher ratio of 90:1. There are some single teacher schools as well. The bill does not lay down any guidelines on how to meet the severe shortage of school teachers, says Calcutta-based educationist Sunanda Sanyal.
Furthermore, though the bill promises education for all from the age of six, it makes no mention of a childs education prior to it. In other words, it seems to assume that a child can head into elementary education without having gone through the primary stage. This is a lacuna, admits CABEs Raina. But it can be rectified only if the 86th constitutional amendment is modified. Then we can make the relevant change to the education bill.
Many private schools admit that they are uncomfortable with some of the bills features. They fear that with all children being allowed to pass, irrespective of their performance, a schools standard may be compromised. In the long run compulsory class promotions will dilute the standard of education and weaken a students foundation, says Raja McGee, principal, Calcutta Boys School.
The 25 per cent reservation clause is also being viewed with some degree of scepticism. Says Malini Bhagat, principal, Mahadevi Birla Girls Higher Secondary School, Calcutta, A student getting admitted through a quota may be the object of much ridicule.
Partha De, school education minister, West Bengal, feels that the standardisation of education is the biggest challenge posed by the bill. Once enacted, this law will centralise the syllabi, methods of admission of students, etc. Yet it remains silent on how to go about centralising education.
Clearly, like every landmark legal initiative, this bill too will be debated and criticised. But at the end of the day, it does mark a phenomenal new beginning that of providing free education to every Indian child.
Bill basics
Free and compulsory education for every child from age six to 14.
No screening tests for children or their guardians at the time of admission.
No capitation fees.
Age proof not needed at the time of admission.
All schools to reserve 25 per cent of seats for the underprivileged.
No child to be held back in class or be expelled till the completion of elementary education.
No child to be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment.
A school management committee comprising elected representatives of a local authority, guardians and teachers to monitor the working of the school.