United Nations congratulates India for RTE initiative

Source:Indiaedunews:April 02, 2010


United Nations congratulates India for RTE initiative
New Delhi: The echo of implementing the historic Right of Children to
 Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act was heard loud and clear throughout the country.

The Act, giving wings to the aspirations of children aged 6-14 to free and compulsory education was lauded by the United Nations bodies with the UNICEF representative Mr. Hulshof in India saying that, "This initiative will ensure quality education with equity to tens of millions of children in India. It will propel India's potential to even greater heights of productivity and prosperity."

UNESCO New Delhi Director Armoogum Parsuramen said that, "This Act bridges the dream of India to be a step closer to its goal of achieving national educational development, millennium development as well as education for all by improving each child’s accessibility to secondary and higher education."

"It is the mission of UNESCO to spread education to every nook and corner of the country and with this mission in mind, the RTE Act stands as the best accompany to its successful implementation."

Andre Bogui, Acting Director for International Labour Organization Sub-Regional Office for South Asia said that, "The RTE brings forth the opportunity to reach the disadvantaged sections of the society such as child labourers. Although there is no such certified age for employment but the Act specifies the age limit for children to be at school during that period of their life, which means they are not supposed to work."

Save the Children, a NGO, which works for the rights of children in the country, described it as the landmark moment in India’s history.

As India is also one of the signatories to the UN Child Rights Convention (UNCRC), its commitment to the Article 28 of the UNCRC had made it mandatory for the country to implement such a directive.

Thomas Chandy, CEO of Save the Children in a statement said that, "Although the Act has been implemented all over the country, but there are some loopholes which need to be addressed. The critical challenges ahead might even claim the fundamental right to be a hollow one."

He further added that, "The act, for example, excludes children in the age group 3-6 years which are the most crucial years for a child for his mental, emotional and cognitive development. These formative years cannot be excluded to achieve the universal elementary education targets. When we talk of elementary education, how can we not focus on investing on these early years?"

The present teacher-student ratio stands at 1:50 and in some institutions, it is as high as 1:80, which is enormous as compared to the prescribed limit of 1:30 in the Act. If the directives of the Act are to be followed, then there would be a need of at least 12 lakh more teachers within six months of the notification of the Act.

"The scenario is more critical when there are more than five lakh-untrained teachers in the country, while the Act stipulates that the teachers must be qualified and trained," he said.