Right
to Education
The right to education is a universal
entitlement to education, recognized in the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights as a human right that includes the right to free,
compulsory primary education for all; An obligation to develop secondary
education accessible to all, in particular by the progressive introduction of
free secondary education; An obligation to develop equitable access to higher
education, ideally by the progressive introduction of free higher education.
The right to education also includes
a responsibility to provide basic education for individuals who have not
completed primary education.
Further the right to education
encompasses the obligation to rule and discrimination at all levels of the
educational system, to set minimum standards and to improve quality of
education.
The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights states that everyone has the right to education,hence the right applies
to all individuals, although children are understood as the main beneficiaries.
The right to education has 3 levels-:
1. Primary (Elementary or Fundamental) Education. This
shall be compulsory and free for any child regardless of their nationality,
gender, place of birth or any other discrimination.
2. Secondary Education must be generally available and
accessible.
3. Higher Education should be provided according to
capacity i.e. anyone who meets the necessary education standards should be able
to go to university.
INTERNATIONAL
LAWS
The right to education is a law in
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 13 and 14
of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The right to education had been
reaffirmed in the 1960 of UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in
Education.
- The 1981 Convention on The
Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women.
- The 2006 Conversation on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities.
The 4 A's of Education
The fulfilment of the right to
education can be assessed using the 4 A's framework. It asserts that for
education to be a meaningful right it must be-:
1. Available
3. Acceptable
4. Adaptable
This 4 A's framework proposes that
government as the primary duty bearer has to respect, protect and fulfil the
right to education by making education available, accessible, acceptable and
adaptable.
The framework also places duties on
other stake holders in the education process -
1) The child who as the privileged
subject of the right to education has the duty to comply with the requirements
of compulsory education.
2) The parents as the first
educators.
3) Professional educators namely,
teachers etc.
Right
to Education Act ( RTE)
The Constitution (Eighty-sixth
Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to
provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six
to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by
law, determine. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE)
Act, 2009, which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under
Article 21-A, means that every child has a right to full time elementary
education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which
satisfies certain essential norms and standards.
Article 21-A and the RTE Act came
into effect on 1 April 2010. The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words
‘free and compulsory’. ‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child
who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported
by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or
charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing
elementary education. ‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the
appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission,
attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14
age group. With this, India has moved forward to a rights based framework that
casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement this
fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in
accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.
The RTE Act provides for the:
Right of children to free and
compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighbourhood
school.
It clarifies that ‘compulsory
education’ means obligation of the appropriate government to provide free
elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion
of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group. ‘Free’
means that no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or
expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary
education.
It makes provisions for a
non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.
It specifies the duties and
responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authority and parents in
providing free and compulsory education, and sharing of financial and other
responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.
It lays down the norms and
standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and
infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours.
It provides for rational deployment
of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil teacher ratio is maintained
for each school, rather than just as an average for the State or District or
Block, thus ensuring that there is no urban-rural imbalance in teacher
postings. It also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for
non-educational work, other than decennial census, elections to local
authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief.
It provides for appointment of
appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the requisite entry and
academic qualifications.
It prohibits
(a) physical punishment and mental harassment;
(b) screening procedures for admission of
children;
(c) capitation fee;
(d) private tuition by teachers and
U (e) running of schools without
recognition,
It provides for development of
curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, and
which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the
child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear,
trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centred
learning.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACT
In the Indian Constitution, the
education is a concurrent subject and both centre and state can legislate on
the issue. The Act lays down specific responsibilities for the centre, state
and local bodies for its implementation.
FUNDING
A committee was set up to study the
requirement of funds initially estimated Rs. 1710 billion across five years was
required to implement the Act. In April, 2010 the central government agreed for
sharing the funding and implementing the law in the ratio of 65 to 35 between
the centre and the states.
A significant development in 2011 has
been the decision taken in principle, to
extend the right to education till class X ( age 16 yrs) and also into the
range of pre school age. The CABE Committee is in the process of looking into
the implications of making these changes.
Council for implementation
The ministry of Human
Resource and Development has set up a 14 member National Advisory Council (NAC)
for implementation of the Act.
Criticism
The act has been described
as 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.
Many of the ideas are
seen as continuing the policies of ‘ SarvaShikshaAbhiyan’ 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 criticsed for being ineffective and corruption ridden.
References
1)
Innovation and new trends in education-
Dr. HenaSiddiqui.
