Right to Education

An Overview of Policy and Challenges

Early Beginnings: Transition from Colonial to

Independent India

• Educational Despatch 1854:

“It is one of our most sacred duties, to be the means, as far as in us lies, of conferring upon the natives of India those vast moral and material blessings which flow from the general diffusion of useful knowledge”

Lord Curzon described as ‘the author of the great movement for educational reconstruction’ by eminent historian of Indian education, JP Naik.

Essentials for a national system of education

JP Naik (tracing his early interventions)

• 7 years basic education to every child (7-14 years)

• Liquidation of mass illiteracy (described by MK Gandhi as a ‘national shame’ & development of adult education which included political education

• Reduction of over emphasis on English – Hindi as link and regional languages to serve as medium of instruction (Language policy was the most knotted of all)

• Working with the hands –bridging gap between intelligentsia and people

• Creating a ‘Greater India’ by relating education to past cultural traditions, present needs and future aspirations

Education in Constituent Assembly

• Education, a state subject under the Government of India Act of 1935, witnessed animated debates and contestations between votaries of provincial autonomy and those that rooted for a strong centre.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister of Education, opposed Education being left to the provinces. He wrote to the Drafting Committee that Education should be under ‘Central guidance, if not control’, so that the intelligentsia of the country will be thinking on similar lines. And believed that educational planning and higher education should be a Union subject. He was opposed by GB Pant who favoured decentralization.

In the Constitution

• Education was allocated to the states except Central Universities and Central

research institutes.

• Vocational and technical training of labour was shifted to Concurrent List

• Right to Education was not a Fundamental Right, but part of Directive

Principles till 2002 when Article 21A was introduced through the

Constitution 86th Amendment Act

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

15: Special provisions for women and

SEdBCs, SCs, STs

29(1): Rt to conserve language,

script, culture

29(2): prohibits denial of admission only on grounds of religion, race, caste,

language

30(1): all minorities (religious &

linguistic) have right to administer

education insts of their choice

30(2): prohibits discrimination

against inst governed by

minority management

41: RTE within limits of eco

capacity

45: Universal, free & compulsory

education upto 14 years within 10 yrs of promulgation of

Const

46: Special Obligation towards

SCST, weaker sections

350A: obligation on local authorities to

provide facilities for instruction in

mother tongue primary stage to

children belonging to linguistic minorities

Quantitative leap in educational access, 1951-

1966 • From 1950 to 1968, it was broad constitutional goals that set the direction of enhancement

of educational access.

• 1st FYP (1951-56): Edu facilities provided for 40% of children 6-11 yrs, 10% in 11-17 yrs, 0.9% 17-23 yrs. 18%^ pop > 5 years literate; 37.8% enrolled in primary school; 16% moved from primary to upper primary stage.

• From 1950-51 to 1965-66, no. of primary schools shot up by 90% (from 2 to 3.9 lakhs); no. or upper primary from 13600 to 76000; enrolment in primary increased from 1.91 crores to 5.05 crores and in upper primary from 0.31 to 1.05 crores; no of high schools from 7288 to 27477 and enrolment in IX-X from 12.2 lakhs to 50.4 lakhs.

• Also significant institution building in HE during this period

Remit of Kothari Commission

• GoI Resolution which set up the commission expected it to underttake a

‘synoptic survey’ and take an ‘imaginative look at education as a whole and

not fragmented into parts and stages.’

• Commission travelled across the country, interviewed 900 persons, received

letters and memoranda from 2400 individuals and groups, constituted 12 task

forces and 7 working groups which worked intensely for 2 years.

Kothari Commission

“While planning of education for India must necessarily emanate from Indian experience and conditions, Government of India are of the opinion that it would be advantageous to draw upon the experience and thinking of educationists and scientists from other parts of the world in the common enterprise of seeking for the right type of education which is the quest of all mankind, specially at this time when the world is becoming closely knit together in so many ways. It has therefore been decided to associate with the Commission, either as members or as consultants, some eminent scientists and educationists from other countries” (KC Report, 591-92)

The Kothari Commission Lens on Education

• Source of supply of human resources for a modern economy

• Instrument of change with values that instil an ethical modernity

• Instrument to promote social and national integration

• Instrument of political education for democratic, plural citizenship

• Moulding the character and personality of students

Educational Architecture under Kothari

Commission

• Uniform structure of school & UG education: 10+2+3

• Introduction of vocational courses at higher secondary stage

• Concept of ‘Neighbourhood School” so that class and social distinctions would not inhibit the learning of children – we see this reiterated in the Bihar Common Schools proposal formulated by Professor Muchkund Dubey for the Government of Bihar in 2007

• PUBLIC SPENDING ON EDUCATION SHOULD BE AT LEAST 6 PERCENT OF GDP (first accepted by NPE in 1986 but not implemented)

NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION,

1986

In the field of education, the Rajiv Gandhi government announced the National Policy on Education, 1986

• NPE broke new ground by incorporating recommendations of the Kothari Commission as well as international developments in the field of elementary education

• NEW THRUST WOULD BE ON UNIVERSAL ENROLMENT AND UNIVERSAL RETENTION TILL AGE OF 14 YEARS

• Emphasised Non Formal Education, social mobilisation/demand generation strategies & child centred learning.

• Village Panchayat and Village Education Committee – principal instruments of microplanning, monitoring and verification of enrolment/retention levels

• District Institute of Education and Training – for continuing training and capacity building for teachers made available at district level

The concept of National System of Education lays the greatest emphasis on elimination of disparities in the

educational system and on improvement in the quality of publicly funded schools so that, ordinarily, parents

may not feel the need to send their children to private high fee charging institutions. This is a direction

towards which we shall have to move with speed and determination. Some steps have already been taken to

launch 'Operation Blackboard' to demonstrably improve accommodation and facilities in under- provided

primary schools in rural as well as urban areas. Establishment of District Boards of Education, District

Institutes of Education and Training, and Village Education Committees will go a long way towards the

school improvement programme, involvement of the community with the educational process, and creating

a new form of accountability of the educational system. If implemented with sensitivity, vigour and

persistence, the proposals contained in the Programme of Action regarding reorientation of the whole

system to promote women's equality, special provisions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other

educationally disadvantaged sections, minorities, the physically and mentally handicapped, and for the areas

which need special attention will enable the educational system to move towards the democratic and socialist

ideals enshrined in the Constitution. (NPE 1985, POA 1992)

“It is significant that when the 1968 and 1986 policies are compared, one can notice the change in the vocabulary

of discourse. By 1986, terms like ‘radical reconstruction,’ and ‘young men and women of character and ability

committed to national service and development’ had gone out of vogue; so did a sense of common citizenship

and culture. The 1986 policy explicitly recognizes that Indian society is a culturally plural society and that

consequently, education should be oriented towards unity and integrity of the country, and elimination of

obscurantism, religious fanaticism, violence, superstition, and fatalism.”

While the 1968 policy spoke of radical reconstruction, the 1986 policy speaks of the Constitution providing the

principles for a National System of Education

Ayyar 2017: 91

Ramamurti Committee

• The Ramamurti Committee was constituted by Prime Minister VP Singh in 1990 to review the NPE 1986 and among other things eliminate ‘the elitist aberrations that have become the glaring characteristic of the educational scene’

• Chairman: Sarvodaya leader Acharya Ramamurti; Members: Gandhians Usha Mehta and Manubhai Pancholi, scientist CNR Rao and educationist Anil Sadgopal whose life’s mission has been the establishment of a common school system through neighbourhood schools, common curriculum and syllabus.

Concerns re. Edu at time of Ramamurti

Committee

• Universalisation of elementary education (and relevance of pre-elementary education stage) and in this connection examining the question of excellence

vs equity: formal and informal education, elimination of competition in school education, stress on values.

• Drop-outs.

• Improvement of quality of teachers, evaluation of teachers, training of teachers.

• Examination reform.

• Delinking of degrees from jobs.

• Vocationalisation and higher education.

• Linking with the Community, curriculum design including the Socially Useful Productive Work Programme (SUPW).

• Medium of instruction.

• Adult education/adult literacy.

• Women's education.

• Removal of disparities, regional development with special attention to backward areas.

• Research.

• Values and education.

• Issues related to financial resources for education (funding).

• Management of education.

• Process of education.

Basic Recommendations of Ramamurti

Committee

• Discontinuation of Navodaya Vidyalayas and equitable allocations to all schools – elimination of dualism in education system

• Non formalisation of formal school system: flexible working hours, reduction in school hours; enhancement of learning hours

• Adequate attention to pre-school childhood care

• Honing of talent in integrated environment rather than segregation of basis of talent

• Understanding the political economy of the ‘drop-out phenomenon’ and addressing these

• Rigorous teacher training and school educators’ programme rooted in local contexts

• Examination reform with a focus on integrated, continuing evaluation

RTE 2010

• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009, came into force on 1 April 2010. India became one of 135 countries worldwide to make education a fundamental right for all children aged 6-14 years.

• Salient features (apart from UEE): development of national curriculum framework, teacher training, technical support to promote innovation and capacity building, focus on providing earmarked proportion of seats to children from marginalised social groups

Privatisation of Elementary Education

• The Mid term Appraisal of the 11th plan (2007-12), recognising the

budgetary allocations necessary for the effective implementation of RTE

observed:

“Private resources should be leveraged to improve infrastructure and quality.

Reforms agenda should include easing of entry barriers and revisiting norms

including land requirement of institutions. Necessary legislative measures to

facilitate private participation must be initiated and viable models of PPP in

education need to be worked out as early as possible.”

Questions remain

• Gender disparities

• Low educational attainment among socially disadvantaged groups

• Lack of clarity on the course of RTE for children with disabilities

• Need to measure progress in terms of constitutional architecture on right to

education