The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) of 2009 sought to make education accessible, free and compulsory for all children in India. But the Act has not seen a grand success in 2010-11. Experts say the act’s provisions and outcomes reveal disconcerting features. They believe that the road to providing free education to children, since the enactment of the act in 2009, has been ambiguous.
“Flexibility and autonomy at the local levels, which is missing at present, is extremely important. Unless the state governments come up with mechanisms that will ensure that an institution like the RTE comes into place, the provisions and loopholes will remain unattended,” said Praveen Jha, professor of social sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“To ensure quality monitoring, the act requires that all schools, except those that are unaided, constitute school management committees. Unfortunately, short-term political gains and poor judgment on the part of politicians and policymakers may continue to be major roadblocks in accomplishing this critical goal,” said Pooja Parvati, research co-ordinator at the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, in her report on RTE in Economic and Political Weekly.
A survey conducted across 251 schools in nine states by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO, states that 24 percent of children drop-out of school, education is not completely free, and admission is not given throughout the year. These findings contradict what RTE states. The survey was conducted across 33 districts and 146 gram panchayats (local self-governments at the village or small town level in India) in nine states — Uttar Pradesh (UP), Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Karnataka. It also found that 30 percent of school children in UP and 25 percent in Bihar have dropped out of school. Despite 97 percent of schools in five states claiming to offer free and compulsory education, a quarter of the schools in UP, Bihar, and MP still charge tuition fees. As per the act, schools have to provide free textbooks, notebooks, uniforms and bags. 75 percent of schools in Jharkhand, 66 percent of schools in Rajasthan and 33 percent of schools in UP provide text books but no notebooks, uniforms and bags.
The act also states that children can gain admission at any time of the year and are not required to provide any identity proof. However, a quarter of the schools in Bihar and MP, and one fifth in Rajasthan and UP require identity proof or admission. The survey also found that 50 percent of schools in Bihar, 31 percent in UP, 27 percent in MP, and 20 percent in Rajasthan do not allow admission at any time of the year. And there are no school management committees in almost 50 percent of all the schools surveyed.
Kaliash Satyarthi, the founder of BBA said: “The government has failed to address the children of hardest to reach category, which includes child and bonded labourers, victims of trafficking, child prostitution and pornography, street children and forced beggary. An honest assessment of the magnitude of out of school children; spreading awareness about RTE; 6% budget allocation at both central and state levels; checks on commercialisation and privatisation; and steps to eliminate child labour are some steps the government must take to ensure that RTE is effective.”
