Right to Education Act

Following completion of the "Right to Education Act" blog, learners will be able to identify and comprehend RTE Act provisions, as well as develop an understanding of the major concerns, approaches, and methodology involved in using the RTE Act.

Content

Introduction
What is Right to Education?
Fast Facts
Key Issues:
Conclusion:

Introduction

The Right to Education Act dates back to when the Indian constitution was being written at the time of independence, but it is more specifically related to the constitutional amendment that added Article 21A, which declared education to be a basic right. However, this modification specified the necessity for law to outline the manner in which it would be implemented, necessitating the creation of a new education bill. The bill's initial draft was written in 2005. Due to its legal requirement to provide a 25% reserve for underprivileged children in private schools, it faced a lot of controversy. This provision was seen by the Central Advisory Board of Education subcommittee that worked on the draft bill as a crucial requirement for establishing a democratic and egalitarian society. Initially, the Indian Law Commission had suggested 50% quota for underprivileged kids attending private schools.

In accordance with Article 21a of the Indian Constitution, all children in India between the ages of 6 and 14 are entitled to free and compulsory education. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act is another name for this legislation. The bill pertaining to this act was authorized by the government on July 2, 2009, and it was passed by both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha on July 20, 2009 and August 4, 2009, respectively. On August 26, 2009, the President of India notified it as a law. The Act becomes effective on April 1, 2010. All of India's states, with the exception of Jammu & Kashmir, are covered by this law. Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, said in his speech that, "No matter their gender or social class, we are dedicated to making sure that all children have access to education. a formal education that enables students to develop the abilities, know-how, attitudes, and values required to be responsible, engaged citizens of India."

What is Right to Education?

Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 (although it was mentioned by the ILO as early as the 1920s), the right to education has been widely acknowledged and has been incorporated into numerous international agreements, national constitutions, and development strategies. Despite the fact that the vast majority of nations have ratified and signed these rights, much fewer have incorporated them into their national constitutions or provided the necessary judicial and administrative framework to ensure that they are really implemented. In other situations, the existence of the right is accompanied by the expectation that the user will pay for it, undercutting the entire idea of a right. In other cases, the right is theoretically recognized but cannot be actually exercised. Inevitably, the poorest people suffer the most from a lack of government support for the right to education. Millions of people around the world are being denied the right to an education today.

The right to education is both a fundamental freedom and a means of achieving other rights. Without education, people lack the capacity to "achieve valuable functioning as part of the living" and lack the "voice" through which rights can be asserted and maintained. People can acquire the knowledge, abilities, and confidence necessary to gain other rights if they have access to education. People can receive knowledge outlining their range of rights and the responsibility of government thanks to education. It assists people in gaining the confidence to speak up in a variety of settings and the communication skills necessary to seek these rights from various decision-makers. Education must be available, accessible, acceptable, and adaptive in order to be a genuine right. One of the greatest ways to evaluate and respond to the issue is to use the four a's, which were devised by Katarina Tomasevski, a former UN Special Reporter on the Right to Education.

Right to Education Act (RTE Act)

The Right To Education Act guarantees free and compulsory education to children aged between 6 and 14 years in India, under Article 21a (Fundamental Right) of the Indian Constitution. This act is also known as The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act. This act is applicable to all states of India except Jammu and Kashmir (http://www.rteindia.com).

Main Features of the RTE Act

These are the Act's primary characteristics:

1. The Act specifies that all children in India, regardless of gender or social group, will get a free and obligatory education.
It essentially makes education available to kids from all societal groups.
It has made private schools more accessible by reserving 25% of the spaces for children from economically and socially disadvantaged groups. This condition has only been waived for unassisted schools.
The Act forbids the screening of children prior to entry, and no child's admittance may be denied on the grounds that the necessary documents are not present, effectively making the Act stronger.
The Act outlawed physical punishment as well.

Main Provisions under RTE Act:

Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighborhood 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, 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 (e) running of schools without recognition,
It provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the child’s knowledge, potential and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child-centered learning.

Implementation and Funding:

According to the Indian Constitution, legislation on education can be passed at the national and state levels. For its implementation, the Act specifies particular duties for the federal, state, and local governments. The states have been complaining loudly that they lack the resources to provide instruction of a suitable caliber in all the schools required for universal education. Thus, it was evident that the federal government—which brings in the majority of tax revenue—would have to provide funding to the states. In order to implement the Act, a committee was formed to study the funding requirements. The committee's initial estimate was that Rs 171,000 crores (US$38.2 billion), spread over five years, would be needed. In April 2010, the central government agreed to a funding split of 65:35 between the center and the states, and 90:10 for the north-eastern states. However, this amount was increased to Rs. 231,000 crores in the middle of 2010, and the center consented to increase its portion to 68%. Other media reports claiming that the center's portion of the implementation costs would now be 70% cause some uncertainty in this regard (Hindustan Times: 2010). At that rate, it's possible that most states won't need to significantly increase their education budgets.

The decision to extend the right to education into the preschool age range and until Class X (age 16) was a significant event in 2011. The CABE committee is now investigating the effects of implementing these adjustments.

Advisory Council on Implementation :

In order to implement the Act, the Ministry of Human Resources Development established a high-level National Advisory Council (NAC) with 14 members. The group includes

Kiran Karnik, former president of NASSCOM
Krishna Kumar, former director of the NCERT
Mrinal Miri, former vice-chancellor of North-East Hill University
Yogendra Yadav - social scientist. India
Sajit Krishnan Kutty - Secretary of The Educators Assisting Children's Hopes (TEACH) India.
Annie Namala, an activist and head of Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion
Aboobacker Ahmad, vice-president of Muslim Education Society, Kerala.

Highlights in Implementation of the RTE Ac

The Act establishes basic standards for primary schools and declares education a fundamental right of all children between the ages of 6 and 14. It mandates that 25% of seats be reserved for students from low-income families in all private aided institutions (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan). Reservations based on caste determine whether children are admitted to private schools. Additionally, it forbids any unrecognized schools from operating, and it stipulates that there will be no contribution or capitation fees or admissions interviews with the child's or the parent's parents.

The Act also states that until elementary school is finished, no kid may be held back, expelled, or forced to pass a board test. Additionally, there is a facility for additional instruction for ex-students to bring them up to level with pupils their own age.

The RTE statute mandates surveys that will keep an eye on every community, identify kids who need education, and set up resources for delivering it. "The RTE Act is the first legislation in the world that places the burden of assuring enrollment, attendance, and completion on the Government," said Sam Carlson, the World Bank's education specialist for India. The children's attendance in schools in the United States and abroad is the parents' duty. The Persons with Impairments Act, a separate piece of legislation, establishes the right to education for people with disabilities up to the age of 18. The Act also makes a variety of regulations regarding faculty, teacher-student ratio, and infrastructural improvements in schools.

The state government has been instructed by this act to raise educational standards and make them more readily available to kids. To make education accessible to the children, the state must build schools within a one-kilometer radius of their homes. The state should administer the Teachers' Eligibility Test to raise educational standards (TET).

Information on notice board regarding the admission procedure:

The Act also provides instructions to the schools on how to admit students covered by the Act. The following information must be posted on notice boards by the schools in regard to the admissions process.

Total number of the seats at the entry level in the school
Total number of free seats available at entry level
The date of Commencement of issue of application forms for the admission and the last date of its submission
The date of display of list of eligible candidates for draw
The date of draw of lots
Date of display of the list of successful candidates
Date of display of waiting list
Last date of admission
Date of opening of the school for the next academic year

Status of Implementation

The Ministry of Human Resource Development published a report on the Act's implementation status on the first anniversary of the Act. The report acknowledges that there are 508,000 fewer instructors needed nationwide and that 8.1 million children between the ages of 6 and 14 are not in school. However, a shadow study by the RTE Forum, which represents the nation's top education networks, disputed the findings, pointing out that a number of important legislative obligations are running behind time (www.educationworldonline.net). The Indian Supreme Court has also intervened to call for the Northeast to execute the Act. Additionally, it has given the legislative framework for guaranteeing wage equity for educators working in government-run and government-aided institutions.

Block Elementary Education Officers-cum-Block Resource Coordinators (BEEOs-cum-BRCs) have been given responsibilities by the Haryana Government for the efficient implementation and ongoing oversight of the Right to Education Act's implementation in the State.

Criticism on RTE Act:

The act has drawn criticism for being quickly crafted, not consulting many organizations involved in education, not taking into account the quality of education, interfering with the rights of private and religious minority schools to manage their system, and excluding children under six years old. Many of the suggestions are seen as carrying on the policies of the District Primary Education Programme, or DPEP, funded by the World Bank in the 1990s and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which established a number of schools in rural areas but was criticized for being inefficient and corrupt (http://sounthasia.oneworld.net).

Quality of education under the RTE Act:

There are still concerns regarding the government system's delivery of education. With 80% of all accredited schools, it continues to be the largest provider of elementary education in the nation, but it also faces teacher and infrastructural shortages, and some areas are still without any schools at all. Additionally, there are frequently made claims that appointments are made based on political expediency and that government schools are plagued by absenteeism and poor management. Many parents send their children to private schools despite the temptation of free food in public schools. In several States, the average teacher salary in rural private schools is much less than that in public schools (about Rs. 4,000 per month). As a result, supporters of low-cost private schools criticized public schools for being inefficient with taxpayer dollars.

Children who attend private schools are viewed as having an advantage, which discriminates against the most vulnerable groups who must attend government schools. Additionally, the system has come under fire for allegedly favoring the rural elites who can pay for school fees in a nation where a significant portion of families endure utter poverty. The measure has drawn criticism for being discriminatory because it doesn't solve these problems. The hastily crafted act, according to renowned educationist Anil Sadagopal, is a scam on our kids. It neither offers free education nor makes it a requirement. In actuality, it merely legitimizes the current multi-layered, subpar school system, where discrimination will continue to be prevalent. According to businessman Gurcharan Das, 54% of urban children attend private schools, and this number is rising at a 3% annual rate. "Even low-income kids are leaving government schools. The absence of the teachers is the reason they are leaving "(http://ibnlive.in.com). Other researchers, however, have refuted the claim by pointing out that when other factors (such as family income and parental literacy—all of which are correlated with the parental ability to pay] are taken into account, the evidence for higher standards of quality in private schools frequently disappears.

Public-private partnership:

The Act provides provisions for compensating private schools for admitting children under the 25% quota, which have been compared to school vouchers, allowing parents to "send" their children to any school, private or public, in order to address these quality issues. Some groups, including the All-India Forum for Right to Education (AIF-RTE), believe that this action, together with the expansion of PPP (Public Private Partnership), represents the state's "constitutional commitment towards providing primary education."

Infringement on private schools:

Private schools have petitioned the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of the RTE Act since they do not support and refuse admissions under the Act. The Supreme Court later rejected a review petition of the Act in September 2012.

Barrier for orphans:

Orphans face a challenge because the Act allows youngsters to be admitted without any documentation. Nevertheless, numerous states have kept up old practices that require kids to show birth certificates, BPL cards, and income and caste certificates. Even though they are willing to do so, orphan children frequently find it difficult to provide these documents. Schools are not allowing them to enroll since they need the paperwork in order to do so.

Fast Facts

Children Who Are Not in School: The number of children who are not in school has decreased, from 25 million in 2003 to 8.1 million in the middle of 2009. The states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, and Chhattisgarh have seen the biggest advancements. In densely populated states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar, the proportion of school-age children who are not enrolled in classes continues to be of concern.
Social inclusion: Although there have been considerable advances in the percentage of students from socially disadvantaged groups enrolled in schools, persistent disparities still exist. Girls still enroll in school at a lower rate than boys. Girls' enrollment in upper primary school (Grades 6-8) was still 8.8 points lower than boys' in 2005. For Scheduled Tribes (ST), the gender gap was 12.6 points, and for Scheduled Castes, it was 16 points (SC). Furthermore, ST and SC kids are less likely to use their right to eight years of education. 62.9% of ST children and 55.2% of SC children drop out of school before finishing eighth grade, compared to a national average of 48.8%.
Teachers: For every 30 students, children have the right to at least one skilled and experienced teacher. Currently, there is one teacher for every 34 students in the country, but in areas like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal, that number is closer to 60. To close this shortfall, an extra 1.2 million teachers must be hired. Currently, only roughly 1 in 5 primary school teachers possess the minimal academic requirements necessary to guarantee children's right to high-quality education.
Sanitation: In India, 84 out of 100 schools have access to drinking water. However, in Meghalaya, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh, less than half of the schools do. In India, 65 out of 100 schools have shared restrooms; however, in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Rajasthan, just one out of every four schools has this amenity.

Key Issues:

The RTE Act became operative on April 1, 2010. States have been given access to the draft model regulations, and they are obligated to create their own state rules and notify the federal government as soon as feasible. With specific provisions for disadvantaged groups including child laborers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a "disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economic, geographical, linguistic, gender, or such other cause," RTE offers a ripe platform to reach the unreached.
RTE focuses on the effectiveness of instruction and learning, which calls for expedited work and significant changes.
To ensure child-friendly education, innovative and long-lasting efforts are essential for training more than one million new and untrained teachers within the next five years, as well as improving the abilities of current instructors.
A significant problem is integrating eight million out-of-school kids into age-appropriate schools with the resources they need to continue their education and flourish. To eradicate gaps and assure quality with equity, significant efforts are required. Preschool spending is one such important tactic.
For the estimated 190 million boys and girls in India who ought to be in elementary school right now, families and communities also have a significant part to play in ensuring that every single one of them receives a child-friendly education.
The formation of School Development Plans and monitoring will require assistance from School Management Committees, which are made up of parents, local officials, teachers, and the students themselves. Past imbalances should be reduced by include parents of children from disadvantaged groups and 50% women on these committees.

Conclusion:

Under Article 21a of the Indian Constitution, which is a fundamental right, all children in India between the ages of six and fourteen are entitled to free and compulsory education. Prior to this, children up to the age of 14 were entitled to free and compulsory education under Article 45. Since Article 45 falls under the category of Directive Principles of State Policy, the government was not required to offer children free and compulsory education. This Act guarantees that all children, regardless of gender and social category, have access to education and gives them the opportunity to develop the abilities, knowledge, attitudes, and values required to become accountable and engaged citizens of India. Millions of people today continue to be denied their right to an education, and the government must create the necessary supports and processes in order to make this right attainable, accessible, acceptable, and adaptable.