Center must foot entire RTE bill: Mayawati to PM

Source: Express News Service :Sun, Apr 4 05:16 AM

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has requested the Centre to bear the total cost to be incurred on the implementation of the Right To Education Act that came into effect from April 1.

According to her, it would not be possible for the state government to arrange about Rs 8,000 crore for implementing the Act in view of its present financial position. As per the state's estimates, it would require total amount of about Rs 18,000 crore for proper implementation of the Act.

A release said Mayawati has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard on Saturday. Although Mayawati favours the Act, she has accused the Centre of ignoring the practical aspects before its implementation. She claimed the Centre was not serious about the proper implementation of the Act. Mayawati said if the Centre really wants to implement this Act for the benefit of the people it should bear the entire financial burden too. She felt it is not appropriate for the Centre to issue guidelines in connection with the Act and fix responsibility for its implementation on the states.

She reminded the Prime Minister that she had already written to the Centre requesting allocation of funds for the cause. She hoped that the Centre would seriously consider this and take a positive decision.

MAYA's RTE fears

Rs 3,800 croreCost of building 4,596 new primary schools, 2,349 new upper primary schools and other infrastructure

Rs 10,000 croreSalary bill for the 3.25 lakh teachers in the new schools, 67,000 new teachers in other schools and 44,000 part-time teachers

Post-RTE, fate of lakhs of kids in limbo

Source:Rema Nagarajan , TNN, Apr 4, 2010, 02.49am IST

  
Even as the Right to Education came into effect on Thursday, the countdown began for lakhs of unrecognised schools across the country against whom action can be taken under the new law unless they get themselves regularized within the next three years. The task of enforcing this regularization will be humungous if studies indicating the proliferation of unrecognized schools are to be believed.

In 2005, in a survey in seven districts in Punjab, Prof Arun Mehta of National University of Educational Planning and Administration found that out of 3,000-plus private schools, 86% were unrecognized with over 3.5 lakh children enrolled in them. Another similar report of 2000 based on a survey in four districts of Haryana states that out of 2,000-plus private schools, 41% (over 850) were unrecognized.

As far back as 1996, the Public Report on Basic Education in India (PROBE) survey in five states — UP, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — which conducted a complete census of all schools in 188 sample villages found that 63% of the existing private schools were unrecognized. It is estimated that even Andhra Pradesh has as many as 10,000 unrecognized schools. In Delhi, the government seems clueless about the number of unrecognized schools in the capital with the figures quoted ranging from over 1,500 to nearly 10,000 — catering to about six lakh children.

Prof Yash Aggarwal of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration in his 2000 report based on the Haryana survey had said that the number of unrecognized schools was doubling every five years and that if the trend continued, the number of unrecognized schools could be roughly 1.5 to 2 times the number of government-run primary schools. With no official survey including unrecognized schools, there is no saying if Aggarwal's prediction has already come true. Prof Mehta observed in his 2005 report that children who were not enrolled in formal recognized schools were all being treated as out-of-school, which may not always be true.

"When the government does not even know where or how many such unrecognised schools exist, how will it ensure regularization of these schools? Awareness about the law is low even in Delhi government and we need to question the government on how they intend to implement the law," says Ashok Aggarwal of Social Jurists, the organization that filed a case in the high court on the quality of education in unrecognized schools.

There is no immediate panic and nothing is going to change overnight because the HRD ministry has given time to the unrecognized schools to get recognition. But the emphasis seems to be on physical infrastructure or input to get recognition rather than output. "Establishing physical infrastructure is easily done. But you need to measure the outcome. You need to see if physical infrastructure translates into learning among children," says Shailendra Sharma of Pratham, an organization which works on providing quality education and which has been conducting annual surveys on learning levels of students.

Interestingly, every survey on unrecognized schools shows that learning achievements in these schools are as good if not better than recognized government schools. These surveys have also shown that they fare better on several counts like pupil-teacher ratio, students to classroom ratio, number of classrooms, physical infrastructure like toilets and computers, and better qualified teachers, majority of them with little or no professional training.

The HRD ministry has given such schools five years to get their teachers professionally trained. Considering the sheer number of unrecognized schools in the country and the lakhs of children enrolled in them, the government can no longer afford to ignore these schools when formulating a policy to universalize access to education under the new law.

RTE Act: Ploy to channelise mega funds to slimy pockets

 

 Source : CJ: Natteri Adigal :merinews:Mon, Apr 05, 2010 12:57:18 IST

Crores of Indians are too preoccupied in meeting very basic necessities to even know of the 'rights' bestowed on them on paper

What is RTE for over three million kids still live off the streets; 150 million children work as bonded labourers?






THE RIGHT to Education Act has come into force since April 1, 2010. The law is intended to ensure free and compulsory schooling to children in the 6—14 year age bracket. Any child in that age group can walk to his/her neighbourhood school and assert the right to be admitted. Significantly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched it on April Fools’ Day!

With the new RTE Act operational, India has joined the over 130 countries which have legal guarantees to provide free and compulsory education to children. Patriotic Indians – particularly from islands of prosperity in the vast sea of misery – gloat at the achievement of what they think is the world’s emerging superpower. When and if the targets are reached, the ‘superpower’ will join some 20 nations, including Afghanistan, China and Switzerland, providing free education for eight years. But, it is a big if. Given the record of ‘democratic’ governance in India, it is anyone’s guess whether the Act is going to be yet another farce.

Education was among the six fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Ironically, a large chunk of Indians are not even aware of the ‘rights’ bestowed on paper. They are too preoccupied in meeting very basic necessities. After 60 years, over three million Indian kids still live off the streets; 150 million children continue to work as bonded labourers; and the country ranks Number Two with regard to the number of children underfed and malnourished. In fact, there is no right of life and livelihood, no right of conversion to religious faith of one’s choice, right to a couple for planning the size and composition of their family using modern techniques, etc, etc under the constitution.

Of course there are laws guaranteeing against discrimination. But, they have invariably been enacted to facilitate minions at the helm to abuse and harass hapless public. Do such a constitutional provisions have any role to play in the quality of life enjoyed by the general public? Remember, more than 50 countries of the world do not give any guarantee to provide free and compulsory education to children. While a majority of Sub-Saharan African countries, whose poor people eke out as wretched an existence as India’s bottom one-third of the population, figure in the list, the list also includes countries like the US, South Africa, Malaysia. It is an open secret that tens of thousands of Indians are prepared to pay hefty bribe to ministers, MPs, judges and official minions for fleeing to these countries by hook or by crook.

The hypocritical laws only boost the glorious levels of dishonesty and corruption prevailing in the Indian system. Take for example, the anti-dowry, women’s rights and child labour laws. They come in handy to unscrupulous elements to extort money from hapless people, including women, who cannot run from pillar to post. While making no difference to real victims, only the cops and judges who provide their services to them get a cut. RTE appears to be just another tool designed only to benefit a limited section consisting of the powers-that-be and their cronies.

It is quite easy for the crowd of MPs, who include some of the most unscrupulous manipulators of the country, to wield a magic wand. But, ensuring free compulsory education to children with an omnibus law is a cruel joke. Doing so without proper infrastructure and without addressing more important social issues cannot put India in league with countries such as Germany, Belgium, Italy and Norway that have ensured it.

The Prime Minister grandly announced his commitment to see “financial constraints do not hamper the implementation of the Right to Education Act.” Now, Manmohan Singh is supposed to be world class economist. He cannot be unaware that the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration estimated that financial commitment in the range of Rs 3212-4362 billion if the plan is implemented in a timeframe of six years without escalations.

The human resource development ministry under Kapil Sibal ordered its babus to somehow juggle the figures to bring the budget to Rs 1710 billion to benefit close to 10 million children. Factoring in the inflation over the four years that it took for the exercise, this figure is less than one third of NIEPA estimates. Weirdly, allocations by the finance commission is still less – Rs 1250 billion over five years.

Educationist Vimala Ramachandran has brought another aspect to the fore. She asks, “It’s not just about hiring 12 lakh more teachers; how are you going to get teachers to go and teach in these government schools, particularly in North India, West Bengal and Orissa, where they are not functioning?” The right is not just about a physical space called school, but the learning experience, she reminds.

Sibal, however, gloats that the RTE provides the opportunity to “do away with the myth that government can’t provide quality education”. It is no secret that even the sub-middle class segment desiring quality education prefers to send their kids to schools outside the government sector. The mushrooming of private schools is proof of that. Obviously, Sibal is not very sincere about his ‘vision’. Another no-brainer in the Act is the earmarking of 25 per cent of seats in private schools for children from the economically weaker sections.

Sibal’s colleagues in the government are obviously aware that the RTE Act is a farce and a heist. It will only aid squandering of mega funds only to fail in meeting the goal that anyway is doomed from the beginning. Even the government of Delhi, perhaps the wealthiest State in India thanks to the proximity with power centres, has not issued any directive.

The top education babu, Rakesh Mohan, justifies the disdain, saying, “Everyone knows it will be effective from April 1 and so they (the unaided private schools) should have prepared accordingly. What is the need for a separate directive?" The schools contend, “We are not certain if the government will provide the funds for the 25 per cent quota, or if we will have to bear the cost. The matter of hiking fees is still in the hands of the government.”

The whole thing boils down to this: Parents, already reeling under crushing inflation eroding their incomes, will be asked to shell out more for the kid’s education to support RTE.

Finally, even for partial achievement of the grand plan, the first task is to improve the quality of education in government-run schools, reputed to be torture chambers. Without bringing about quality into the government-run schools, RTE Act announced on April Fool’s day will be a non-starter. An amendment to RPA (Representation of Peoples Act) is needed first.

To start with, it must be mandatory for every candidate in elections to Parliament/ State Assemblies to first take off their and their kins’ kids from high end schools and put them in government schools. This could bring about some sort of quality into the government-run schools. Netas, including Sonia, Sibal and Singh, should have no objection to this if they are 1 per cent sincere about RTE. Otherwise, this Act will be another tool to siphon off mammoth sums of public funds into the pockets of Netas and their cronies.

India joins list of 135 countries in making education a right

 Source: The Hindu,2 April,2010 Newdelhi, PTI

With the Right to Education Act coming into force, India has joined the league of over 130 countries which have legal guarantees to provide free and compulsory education to children.

According to the UNESCO’s ‘Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2010’, about 135 countries have constitutional provisions for free and non-discriminatory education for all.

However, the report says that despite the legal guarantee of free education, primary school fees continue to be charged in some countries.

It also cited a 2005 World Bank survey, which stated only 13 countries impart primary education totally free of cost. In majority of countries, some direct costs have been reported though no tuition fees are charged.

“In reality, free primary schooling still remains the exception rather than the rule,” says the report.

Chile tops the list of countries in providing free education for a period of 15 years to a child. It gives free and compulsory education to children in the age group of six to 21 years.

The Latin American country, where elementary education was among the worst two decades ago, had implemented a special education programme in 1990 which recorded a significant improvement among primary and upper primary students.

There are seven countries such as Germany, Belgium, Italy and Norway that have provisions of free compulsory education to children covering their entire schooling period.

Countries like Britain and New Zealand have made education compulsory and free for children for a period of 11 years.

Spain, France, Norway and Canada are among the 19 nations where education is free of cost for a duration of 10 years, ranging from the age of five to 15 or six to 16 years.

There are 34 countries, including Japan, Finland, Russia and Sweden where a child gets nine years of compulsory education, according to the report.

In India, the Right to Education law, providing free and compulsory schooling to children in the 6—14 year age bracket, came into force yesterday.

With the new education act now operational, India has joined some 20 other countries including Afghanistan, China and Switzerland which have laws guaranteeing free and compulsory education for eight years of elementary education.

India’s neighbours such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan do not have any law providing free education, where as Bangladesh and Myanmar have such provisions for a four-year-period while Nepal has five years of compulsory schooling.

According to the report, there are seven countries, including Romania and Brazil whose laws define seven years of compulsory education for a child, while five countries, including the Philippines and Georgia give children legal right to education for a period of six years.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and eight other countries have the provision of five years of free education for children.

However, there are over 50 countries, including the US, South Africa, Malaysia and a majority of Sub-Saharan African countries which do not have any constitutional provision to provide free and compulsory education to children.

The UNESCO report, however, does not have data about certain countries on whether they have any constitutional provision of providing free education.

The report also states that some countries have achieved extraordinary progress in their education system and the number of children dropping out from schools has declined by 33 million worldwide since 1999.

NCPCR sets up Special Div, to launch helpline to monitor RTE Act

Source: UNI:April 1,2010


New Delhi, Apr 1 : The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has created a Special Division to fulfill the ''huge and important task'' of monitoring the implementation of the historic Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, which came into force today.

NCPCR, which has been mandated to monitor the implementation of the Act, will also set up a special toll free helpline to register complaints in this regard, an official release said here.

Welcoming the formal notification of the Act, NCPCR is looking forward to playing an active role in ensuring its successful implementation.

It has also invited all civil society groups, students, teachers, administrators, artists, writers, government personnel, legislators, members of the judiciary and all other stakeholders to join hands and work together to build a movement to ensure that every child of this country is in school and enabled to get at least eight years of quality education.

NCPCR has termed it as a historic day for the people of India as from this day the right to education will be accorded the same legal status as the right to life as provided by Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. Every child in the age group of six to 14 years will be provided eight years of elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his/her neighbourhood.

Any cost that prevents a child from accessing school will be borne by the state, which shall have the responsibility of enrolling the child as well as ensuring attendance and completion of eight years of schooling. No child shall be denied admission for want of documents; no child shall be turned away if the admission cycle in the school is over and no child shall be asked to take an admission test.

Children with disabilities will also be educated in the mainstream schools.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said implementing the act was important for the country to nurture children and young people and secure India's future as a strong and prosperous country.

Better study, or else ...

Source:C P SURENDRAN,TOI.Apr 3, 2010, 10.59am IST




The Right to Education Act, which is supposed to benefit close to one crore children is a bit of a paradox laced with the usual, well-intentioned, celebratory Indian cruelty. Celebratory because the accompanying self congratulatory applause drowns the gastronomic rumblings of the millions that the Act is meant to benefit.

Right to education was among the six fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The new Act makes education enforceable in law. It is a moot point what the letter of the law can do in a situation that encourages its total breakdown in spirit.

There are laws, for example, the 1986 Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, which prohibits children under 14 years from being employed in “hazardous occupations”. That hasn’t prevented boys and girls from working in quarries or explosive industries like firecrackers.

If charitable Acts and humanitarian laws could in regular bouts of Mosaic fervour command away injustice, over three million Indian kids won’t be still living off the streets; or, 150 million children would not continue to work as bonded labourers. The law is law. It is not dal-chawal. In the short run at least, gut and gruel come before maths and science.

Long ago, in Kerala, when this writer was, — improbable as it might seem — a child, his object of grudging admiration was a hardy community school in a village in Palghat where his relatively poorer-off cousins were enrolled. Their father was a Zamorin scion who had given away his considerable wealth to the communist movement and fallen on lean days. The school fortunately had a mid-day meal scheme, mostly rice mixed in powder-milk. And the cousins didn’t miss a day in school. Their teachers made sense not necessarily because they were A-league gurus, but because the beast in the belly had ceased to growl.

The regime of the beast spreads far and wide. The World Bank estimates that India ranks second in the world with regard to the number of children underfed and malnourished. The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of sub-Saharan Africa. Most children who do not go to school or become drop outs — a little over one-third of all children who enrol in grade one reach grade eight — do so, because the act of acquiring wisdom in a class room could end up killing them. They are infinitely better off working, begging or stealing. They see in education extermination by starvation. And, instinctively, they have preferred life to learning.

If reports are anything to go by, the free and compulsory Act talks of new schools, more teachers and infrastructure, and quota system in private schools. The finance commission has allocated Rs 25,000 crore to the states for implementing the Act. The school management committee or the local authority will be empowered to identify out-of-school children and admit them in classes. From now on, it’s either school or jail. Sort of.

If all this will eventually translate into sadistic teachers, overzealous village sarpanches or even a socially-minded cop or two scouring the countryside with cane or worse in hand for truants hiding away in the bushes, do not be surprised. ‘Free and compulsory’ has that ominous ring to it, the unmistakable gleanings of a proto-police raj.

That the Act gives no thought to food, which ought to be an integral part of any sustainable act of learning, is a failing. Nor does it mention monetary reward to parents for sending their wards to school. Why would parents want to take children off work and cut their already meagre family incomes?

For all the easy and obvious goodness that the Education Act envisages, in the absence of social and economic cushions, school could come to many as a torture camp — which in very many cases it already is thanks to primitive teaching methods and callous staff.

Surely, if education is compulsory for children no matter what their debilitating background is, why not make, say, health compulsory? In future, every child will be healthy, or else. Applause.

Private schools may hike fees with RTE in place

Source:indiaedunews:April 01, 2010


New Delhi: The Right to Education as a Fundamental Right has although been officially announced by the Prime Minister today in the morning but the after-effects, which are already up in arms occupy the private schools profusely.

The private schools in the capital acknowledge the possibility of a fee hike since they require funds to support the 25% reservation of students from weaker and disadvantaged sections, which is now mandatory for every school.

The mandates of the Act specify that the State government is responsible for the tuition fees of these students. But the recompense will be equal to what the government spends per child in its own schools or fees charged by the private school, whichever is less.

This policy does not satisfy the needs of the private players who feel that the amount which they actually spend on each child is not sufficient for these students which is why the funds would be generated in the form of hiked fees.

Bharti Sharma, principal, Amity International School, Saket, said that, "Having state-of-art facilities and extra teachers ensuring children a good environment to study does not come cheap."

According to the rules framed by the government, 400 schools, which have received land from the government at subsidized rates are obligated to reserve 15% seats for students belonging to the EWS category.

Principal of Tagore International School, Madhulika Sen said that their school is an example of such an obligation.

"There is only a 10% hike for us. Funds for 15% do not come regularly so I am apprehensive about the 25%. Come this academic session, we are bound to charge Rs.2800 from each student and the government will not even recompense with even half of this amount. We are thus left with no other option but to hike the fee," she said.

The private schools in March challenged the Act in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it violated the rights of private educational institutions under Article (19)(1)(g).

Parents are unhappy about the recent hike while the Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely assured that there is going to be no hike in school fees.