STUDENTS ATTHE ACTIVITY CENTRE AT A SCHOOL IN DELHI
without help; which means they will either be shut down or have to pay hefty bribes to stay in business, making them much less affordable.” Parents only pay to send their children to private schools with inadequate infrastructure because the ‘free’ local Government schools don’t deliver. The logical way to force an upgrade of private schools is to raise the quality of Government schools which can outcompete the private schools that don’t have facilities. By forcing private schools to close without improving Government schools, the RTE Act will only worsen access to proper learning.
The RTE Act’s requirements on teachers are particularly problematic. Says Yamini Aiyar, director of the Accountability Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, “The Act makes it impossible to hire teachers on a contract basis when experience shows that these are precisely the teachers who deliver.” Government school teachers, who are guaranteed lifetime employment and high wages, have no incentives to actually teach, whereas those on contract have every incentive to perform. Aiyar highlights the example of Bihar, which under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made a strong push at universalising elementary education. One of its significant initiatives in meeting the goal was the hiring of 2.5 lakh teachers for Government schools on contract basis. Unlike permanent employees, they actually worked. The RTE Act, however, doesn’t allow such flexibility. Educationist Vinod Raina, who was a member of the committee that framed the RTE Act, argues that Government school teachers will also have to fol- low strict norms. What if they don’t? “Then parents can approach the National or State Commission for Protection of Child Rights or the courts,” says Raina. Given the Indian judicial system, action against an erring teacher could take decades.
There are other concerns. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Centre for Policy Research and a former member of the National Knowledge Commission, is worried about the RTE Act’s provision of doing away with the rigours of exam-based assessment. “How can you have a blanket policy to promote every child, irrespective of whether the child has learned anything?” asks Mehta. Such a system doesn’t give the right incentives to teachers either, who must eventually be judged on how students perform.
If there is any silver lining, it is that state governments can enact their own set of rules to implement the Act, which can help alleviate some of the worst aspects of the Centre’s Act. Gujarat has already taken the lead in drafting an innovative set of rules. A committee, chaired by former state chief secretary Sudhir Mankad, has included both output and input criteria in granting recognition to private unaided schools. In a deviation from the Central RTE Act, the Gujarat state rules give 85 per cent weightage to student learning outcomes and only 15 per cent to inputs like facilities and teachers’ qualifications while granting recognition to private schools. There are provisions which allow the Government or a third party to take over the running of the school if the incumbent management fails.
Parth Shah, president of the Centre for Civil Society in Delhi, which works with state governments to frame rules for the RTE Act, is all praise for Gujarat. “Gujarat is certainly a good role model for other states to follow but it’s not the only option,” he says. Even if others follow Gujarat, they will at most be trying to make the best of a bad law which does little to give a sensible push to the desirable goal of right to quality education for all.