EDUCATION IS NOW A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT NOW

 

The Group of Ministers, entrusted with the task of scrutinising the Bill, had cleared the draft legislation without diluting the content including some of the contentious provisions like 25 per cent reservation in private schools for disadvantaged children from the neighbourhood at the entry level. Other key provisions in the Bill includes no donation or capitation or interviewing the child or parents as part of the screening procedure.

 

The Right to Education Bill is the legislation to notify the 86th Constitutional amendment, which gives every child between the age of 6 and 14 years the right to free and compulsory education. It was passed by Parliament in December 2002.

 

It is an established fact that basic education improves the basic societal factors with regard to life expectancy, infant mortality, nutritional status of children etc. Studies have shown that universal basic education significantly contributes to economic growth. We cannot afford illiteracy from an economic perspective too, because return on investment in basic education is one of the highest.

 

Out of 200 million children in the age group of 6-14 years, 59 million children are not attending school. Of this 35 million are girls and 24 million boys. There are at least one lakh habitations in the country without schooling facility within one kilometre. There are problems relating to drop-out rate, low levels of learning and low participation of girls, tribal and other disadvantaged groups. Coupled with it are various systemic issues like inadequate school infrastructure, poorly functioning schools, high teacher absenteeism, large number of teacher vacancies, poor quality of education and inadequate funds.

 

In spite of these chronic problems India has made substantial progress in terms of increase in institutions, teachers and students in elementary education. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the primary stage in India has exceeded l00 per cent. Access to schools is no longer a major problem. At the primary stage, 94 per cent of the country’s rural population has schooling facilities within one kilometre and at the upper primary stage, it is 84 per cent.

 

Besides the efforts of Central Government, many states have also made state specific initiatives in recent years to provide education for all children. With the efforts of the Central and state governments, community and NGOs, the country would be able to achieve the goal of universal elementary education for a better future. The Right to Education Bill would provide required impetus for that.