RIGHT
TO EDUCATION
Nelson Mandela once said, Education is the most powerful
weaapon which you can use to change the world. “Education enables individuals
to reach their full potential as human beings, both individually and as members
of the society. Education is also the driver of a country’s economic
development, but it does not always get the priority it deserves.
India has the largest population of youth in the world.
Howerver, not all of them are educated. According to Census 2011. India’s
literacy rate is 74.04 percent . Literacy rate among Indian women is 65.46
percent , while for men it is 82.42 percent. The main factor that contributed
to this was that people in the country do not realise the importance of
education and do not think it benefits them in any way.
Fortunately, the situation is changing fast More and more
parents, irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds, are keen to
educate their children.
Since independence, India has also taken many steps to impart
and improve education in the homeland . But none has been as concrete as the
Right to education Act.
The Act was introduced in the Rajya Savha in Decemer 2008. It
was passed in the Lok Saha on 4th August 2009 and the President gave
his assent to it on 26th August 2009.
The Act came into force on 1st
April 2010 as a fundamental right and with it, India became one of the 135
countries to make education a fundamental right of every child.
The salient features of the RTE Act are :
·
The Act mandates that even private educational
institutions have to reserve 25 % seats for children from the weaker sections.
\
·
The state governments and local bodies must ensure
that every child get education in a school in the neighbourhood.
·
The school management committee or the local authority
will identify the drop outs or out of school children above six years of age
and admit them in classes appropriate to their age after giving special
training.
·
Every child must get education.
·
The appropriate governments must ensure that every
child gets free elementary education.
·
No school can deny admission to a student and all
schools need to have trained teachers.
·
In case of schools not having trained teachers, they
will have to comply with the provision within three years.
·
Schools need to have certain minimum facilites like
adequate teachers, playground and infrastructure . The government will evove
sime mechanism to help marginalised schools comply with the provisions of the
Act.
The Act has been criticised for being hastily drafted
, not consulting many groups active in education, not considering the quality
of education, infringing on the rights of private and religious minority school
to administer their system, and for excluding children under six years of age.,
Nevertheless , if the Right to Education Act, as
envisioned by the government is successfully implemented , will ensure the
overalll economic development of India.
While the ultimate responsivility of providing
education rest with the Government, as enshrined in the Constitution, it is
evident that the Government’s efforts alone will not be sufficient to provide
good quality education to all.
Passing a bill is one easy thing to do , but the key
to ensure successful implementation of the Act is to make parents,
particularlarly in rural areas, aware of the venefits of education and to
encourage them to send their children to school. Like many attempted social
changes in India, this too has to start at the community level. It requires a
widespread change of an age-old mindset and must make people, at the gelm of
affairs, accountable.
.
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written by: pawan kumar verma
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