Right to Education Bill
Encyclopedia
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), which was passed by the Indian parliament on 4 August 2009, describes the modalities of the provision of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India
under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right
of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010.
passed the bill on 20 July 2009 and the Lok Sabha
on 4 August 2009. It received Presidential assent and was notified as law on 3 Sept 2009 as The Children's Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act. The law came into effect in the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1 April 2010, the first time in the history of India a law was brought into force by a speech by the Prime Minister. In his speech, Manmohan Singh
, Prime Minister of India
stated that, "We are committed to ensuring that all children, irrespective of gender and social category, have access to education. An education that enables them to acquire the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes necessary to become responsible and active citizens of India."
of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children from poor families (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan). It also prohibits all unrecognized schools from practice, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent for admission. The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.
The RTE act requires surveys that will monitor all neighbourhoods, identify children requiring education, and set up facilities for providing it.
The World Bank
education specialist for India, Sam Carlson, has observed:
The Right to Education of persons with disabilities until 18 years of age is laid down under a separate legislation- the Persons with Disabilities Act. A number of other provisions regarding improvement of school infrastructure, teacher-student ratio and faculty are made in the Act.
The Act provides for a special organization, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, an autonomous body set up in 2007, to
monitor the implementation of the act, together with Commissions to be set up by the states.
, education comes under the purview of the states, and the Act has made state and local bodies accountable for the implementation. The states have been clamouring that these bodies do not have the financial capacity to cover all the schools needed for universal education. Thus it was clear that the central government (which collects most of the revenue) will be required to subsidize the states.
A committee set up to study the funds requirement and funding initially estimated that Rs
171,000 crore
s or 1.71 trillion (US$38.2 billion) would be required in the next five years to implement the Act, and in April 2010 the central government agreed to sharing the funding for implementing the law in the ratio of 65 to 35 between the centre and the states, and a ratio of 90 to 10 for the north-eastern states. However, in mid 2010, this figure was upgraded to Rs. 231,000 crore
s, and the center agreed to raise its share to 68%.
There is some confusion on this, with other media reports stating that the centre's share of the implementation expenses would now be 70%. At that rate, most states may not need to increase their education budgets substantially.
A critical development in 2011 has been the decision taken in principle to extend the right to education till Class X (age 16) and into the preschool age range . The CABE committee is in the process of looking into the implications of making these changes.
was set up as a act:
As that deadline was about to be passed many decades ago, the education minister at the time, M C Chagla
, memorably said:
In the 1990s, the World Bank funded a number of measures to set up schools within easy reach of rural communities. This effort was consolidated in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
model in the 1990s. RTE takes the process further, and makes the enrollment of children in schools a state prerogative.
of the last decade, and the World Bank funded District Primary Education Programme DPEP of the '90s, both of which, while having set up a number of schools in rural areas, have been criticized for being ineffective and corruption-ridden.
Children attending the private schools are seen to be at an advantage, thus discriminating against the weakest sections, who are forced to go to government schools. Furthermore, the system has been criticized as catering to the rural elites who are able to afford school fees in a country where large number of families live in absolute poverty.
The act has been criticized as discriminatory for not addressing these issues. Well-known educationist Anil Sadagopal said of the hurriedly-drafted act:
Entrepreneur Gurcharan Das
noted that 54% of urban children attend private schools, and this rate is growing at 3% per year. "Even the poor children are abandoning the government schools. They are leaving because the teachers are not showing up." However, other researchers have countered the argument by citing that the evidence for higher standards of quality in private schools often disappears when other factors (like family income, parental literacy- all correlated to the parental ability to pay) are controlled for.
the Act also has provisions for compensating private schools for admission of children under the 25% quota which has been compared to school vouchers, whereby parents may "spend" their vouchers in any school, private or public. This measure, along with the increase in PPP (Public Private Partnership)has been viewed by some organizations such as the All-India Forum for Right to Education (AIF-RTE), as the state abdicating its "constitutional obligation towards providing elementary education".
claiming the act violates the constitutional right of private managements to run their institutions without governmental interference. While the matter remains subjudice, the Supreme Court has refused to grant a stay on the provisions of the Act , including the controversial 25% reservation.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right
Right to education
The right to education is a universal entitlement to education, a right that is recognized as a human right. According to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights the right to education includes the right to free, compulsory primary education for all, an obligation to...
of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010.
History
The present Act has its history in the drafting of the Indian constitution at the time of Independence but are more specifically to the Constitutional Amendment that included the Article 21A in the Indian constitution making Education a fundamental Right. This amendment, however, specified the need for a legislation to describe the mode of implementation of the same which necessitated the drafting of a separate Education Bill. The rough draft of the bill was composed in year 2005. It received much opposition due to its mandatory provision to provide 25% reservation for disadvantaged children in private schools. The sub-committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education which prepared the draft Bill held this provision as a significant prerequisite for creating a democratic and egalitarian society. Indian Law commission had initially proposed 50% reservation for disadvantaged students in private schools.Passage
The bill was approved by the cabinet on 2 July 2009. Rajya SabhaRajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
passed the bill on 20 July 2009 and the Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
on 4 August 2009. It received Presidential assent and was notified as law on 3 Sept 2009 as The Children's Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act. The law came into effect in the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1 April 2010, the first time in the history of India a law was brought into force by a speech by the Prime Minister. In his speech, Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
, Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
stated that, "We are committed to ensuring that all children, irrespective of gender and social category, have access to education. An education that enables them to acquire the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes necessary to become responsible and active citizens of India."
Highlights
The Act makes education a fundamental rightRight to education
The right to education is a universal entitlement to education, a right that is recognized as a human right. According to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights the right to education includes the right to free, compulsory primary education for all, an obligation to...
of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children from poor families (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan). It also prohibits all unrecognized schools from practice, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent for admission. The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.
The RTE act requires surveys that will monitor all neighbourhoods, identify children requiring education, and set up facilities for providing it.
The World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
education specialist for India, Sam Carlson, has observed:
- The RTE Act is the first legislation in the world that puts the responsibility of ensuring enrollment, attendance and completion on the Government. It is the parents' responsibility to send the children to schools in the U.S. and other countries.
The Right to Education of persons with disabilities until 18 years of age is laid down under a separate legislation- the Persons with Disabilities Act. A number of other provisions regarding improvement of school infrastructure, teacher-student ratio and faculty are made in the Act.
The Act provides for a special organization, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, an autonomous body set up in 2007, to
monitor the implementation of the act, together with Commissions to be set up by the states.
Implementation and funding
In the Indian constitutionConstitution of India
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens...
, education comes under the purview of the states, and the Act has made state and local bodies accountable for the implementation. The states have been clamouring that these bodies do not have the financial capacity to cover all the schools needed for universal education. Thus it was clear that the central government (which collects most of the revenue) will be required to subsidize the states.
A committee set up to study the funds requirement and funding initially estimated that Rs
Indian rupee
The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....
171,000 crore
Crore
A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan....
s or 1.71 trillion (US$38.2 billion) would be required in the next five years to implement the Act, and in April 2010 the central government agreed to sharing the funding for implementing the law in the ratio of 65 to 35 between the centre and the states, and a ratio of 90 to 10 for the north-eastern states. However, in mid 2010, this figure was upgraded to Rs. 231,000 crore
Crore
A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan....
s, and the center agreed to raise its share to 68%.
There is some confusion on this, with other media reports stating that the centre's share of the implementation expenses would now be 70%. At that rate, most states may not need to increase their education budgets substantially.
A critical development in 2011 has been the decision taken in principle to extend the right to education till Class X (age 16) and into the preschool age range . The CABE committee is in the process of looking into the implications of making these changes.
Advisory Council on Implementation
The Ministry of HRD set up a high-level, 14-member NAC for implementation of the bill. The members include- Kiran KarnikKiran KarnikKiran Karnik is a prominent figure and guiding force behind the Indian outsourcing industry. He has formerly been the president of NASSCOM , and is now one of its trustees. Mr...
, former president of NASSCOMNASSCOMThe National Association of Software and Services Companies of IT software and services related activities for use of both the software developers as well as interested companies overseas.... - Krishna KumarKrishna Kumar (academic)Dr. Krishna Kumar is an Indian academic. He was director or NCERT. He was appointed as a member of the NAC for the implementation of the RTE act in June 2010.-Early life:...
, former director of the NCERT - Mrinal MiriMrinal MiriMrinal Miri is an Indian philosopher and educationalist.-Early life:He was awarded a BA in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge in 1966 and gained his doctorate in 1970.-Career:...
, former vice-chancellor of North-East Hill University - Yogendra YadavYogendra YadavProfessor Yogendra Yadav is an Indian social scientist. He was appointed as a member of the NAC for the implementation of the RTÉ act in 2010. Yogendra Yadav is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies , Delhi since 2004....
- social scientist - Amita DhandaAmita DhandaAmita Dhanda is an Indian academician and activist. She is presently a Professor of Law at NALSAR, Hyderabad. She was appointed as a member of the strong 14- Member National Advisory Council for the implementation of the RTE act in 2010.-Career:...
, professor of law, NALSAR, Hyderabad; - Venita KaulVenita KaulVenita Kaul is an Indian educator. She is presently the head of Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development, Ambedkar University, Delhi. She worked as a Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank since 1998. She was appointed as a member of the NAC for the implementation of the RTE act...
, Ex- World Bank and Head, Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development, Ambedkar University, Delhi - Annie NamalaAnnie NamalaAnnie Namala is an Indian social activist and has been working for dalit rights. She is presently head of Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion. She is a vocal voice in the fight of untouchable movement...
, an activist and head of Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion - Aboobacker Ahmad, vice-president of Muslim Education Society, Kerala.
Status of Implementation
A report on the status of implementation of the Act was released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on the one year anniversary of the Act. The report admits that 8.1 million children in the age group six-14 remain out of school and there’s a shortage of 508,000 teachers country-wide. A shadow report by the RTE Forum representing the leading education networks in the country, however, challenging the findings pointing out that several key legal commitments are falling behind the schedule. . The Supreme Court of India has also intervened to demand implementation of the Act in the Northeast . It has also provided the legal basis for ensuring pay parity between teachers in government and government aided schoolsPrecedents
It has been pointed out that the RTE act is now new. Universal adult franchise in the act was opposed since most of the population was illiterate. Article 45 in the Constitution of IndiaConstitution of India
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens...
was set up as a act:
- The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.
As that deadline was about to be passed many decades ago, the education minister at the time, M C Chagla
M C Chagla
M. C. Chagla , full name Mahommedali Currim Chagla, was a renowned Indian jurist, diplomat, and Cabinet Minister who served as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court from 1948 to 1958.- Active life and career :...
, memorably said:
- Our Constitution fathers did not intend that we just set up hovels, put students there, give untrained teachers, give them bad textbooks, no playgrounds, and say, we have complied with Article 45 and primary education is expanding... They meant that real education should be given to our children between the ages of 6 and 14 - M.C. Chagla, 1964
In the 1990s, the World Bank funded a number of measures to set up schools within easy reach of rural communities. This effort was consolidated in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan , is an Indian Government programme aimed at the universalization of elementary education "in a time bound manner", as mandated by the 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children of ages 6–14 a fundamental right...
model in the 1990s. RTE takes the process further, and makes the enrollment of children in schools a state prerogative.
Criticism
The act has been criticized for being hastily-drafted, not consulting many groups active in education, not considering the quality of education, infringing on the rights of private and religious minority schools to administer their system, and for excluding children under six years of age. Many of the ideas are seen as continuing the policies of Sarva Shiksha AbhiyanSarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan , is an Indian Government programme aimed at the universalization of elementary education "in a time bound manner", as mandated by the 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children of ages 6–14 a fundamental right...
of the last decade, and the World Bank funded District Primary Education Programme DPEP of the '90s, both of which, while having set up a number of schools in rural areas, have been criticized for being ineffective and corruption-ridden.
Quality of education
The quality of education provided by the government system remains in question. While it remains the largest provider of elementary education in the country forming 80% of all recognized schools, it suffers from shortages of teachers, infrastructural gaps and several habitations continue to lack schools altogether. There are also frequent allegations of government schools being riddled with absenteeism and mismanagement and appointments are based on political convenience. Despite the allure of free lunch-food in the government schools, many parents send their children to private schools. Average schoolteacher salaries in private rural schools in some States (about Rs. 4,000 per month) are considerably lower than that in government schools. As a result, proponents of low cost private schools, critiqued government schools as being poor value for money.Children attending the private schools are seen to be at an advantage, thus discriminating against the weakest sections, who are forced to go to government schools. Furthermore, the system has been criticized as catering to the rural elites who are able to afford school fees in a country where large number of families live in absolute poverty.
The act has been criticized as discriminatory for not addressing these issues. Well-known educationist Anil Sadagopal said of the hurriedly-drafted act:
- It is a fraud on our children. It gives neither free education nor compulsory education. In fact, it only legitimises the present multi-layered, inferior quality school education system where discrimination shall continue to prevail.
Entrepreneur Gurcharan Das
Gurcharan Das
Gurcharan Das , , is an Indian author, commentator and public intellectual. He is the author of The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma which interrogates the epic, Mahabharata...
noted that 54% of urban children attend private schools, and this rate is growing at 3% per year. "Even the poor children are abandoning the government schools. They are leaving because the teachers are not showing up." However, other researchers have countered the argument by citing that the evidence for higher standards of quality in private schools often disappears when other factors (like family income, parental literacy- all correlated to the parental ability to pay) are controlled for.
Public-private partnership
In order to address these quality issues,the Act also has provisions for compensating private schools for admission of children under the 25% quota which has been compared to school vouchers, whereby parents may "spend" their vouchers in any school, private or public. This measure, along with the increase in PPP (Public Private Partnership)has been viewed by some organizations such as the All-India Forum for Right to Education (AIF-RTE), as the state abdicating its "constitutional obligation towards providing elementary education".
Infringement on private schools
The Society for Un-aided Private Schools, Rajasthan petitioned the Supreme Court of IndiaSupreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...
claiming the act violates the constitutional right of private managements to run their institutions without governmental interference. While the matter remains subjudice, the Supreme Court has refused to grant a stay on the provisions of the Act , including the controversial 25% reservation.
Lawsuits
- Miss Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka (AIR 1992 SC 2100)
- Unni Krishnan v State of Andhra Pradesh (AIR 1993 SC 2178)