All’s notrightwithrte:moremissesthanhits
Policy issues, poor implementation mean not every child is getting the right to a free education, even after seven years of Right to Education Act
It has been seven years since India made free and compulsory primary education a basic right of children. The Right to Education Act, enforced in 2010, was hailed as revolutionary as it promised free access to education for children from all classes. Today, however, it has more misses than hits to its name, education activists say.
QUOTA FOCUS
Under the RTE Act, non-minority, unaided schools must set aside 25% of their seats for students from economically weak backgrounds. The schools must offer free education from Class 1 to Class 8, for which the government reimburses them.
One major issue with the implementation so far has been that all government efforts are concentrated solely on the quota, while other areas of the Act are largely neglected, educators said.
A major area of failure is the quality of education, despite several efforts by the Maharashtra government, such as the ‘Pragat Shaikshanik’ programme.
Two years ago, for instance, competency tests were started for students in Class 1 to Class 8, to assess skills in math and first language, but these have been conducted in a slipshod manner. The act says the tests should be conducted every three or four months to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of students and the data would be used to train teachers to adapt lessons or teaching styles accordingly.
But, the education department frequently changes the test timetables, making it difficult for schools to plan for them. Further, the responsibility of conducting the tests was thrust on schools without giving them proper instructions. There is no external supervision, which means schools take the whole process lightly, each one doing it their own way. Some schools have even asked students to take the tests home. “This is a complete mess. Schools cheat on the tests or skip them altogether,” said Uday Nare, a teacher at Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri.
What’s worse? The test results are not made public, defeating its purpose — the idea of the tests was for schools to know where they stand compared to other schools. There is no feedback from the government either.
“We feel the tests are held in a vacuum,” said Chandrakanta Pathak, principal, HVB Global Academy, Marine Lines. “There is no point of holding the competency tests.”
FAILURE OF THE NO-FAIL
Schools said another area where the act’s not been implemented properly was the no-detention policy — no student is detained till Class 8, even if she has not got passing grades. The policy was supplemented by the Continuous Compulsory Evaluation (CCE), a scheme that looked at all-round development of students.
Recently, CCE was rolled back for CBSE schools, with the government saying it brought down learning levels. The states were asked to modify it as per their needs. “Withdrawing the no-fail policy dealt a big blow to the RTE,” said Rohan Bhat, chairperson, Children’s Academy Group of Schools, Kandivli and Malad. Bhat added the policy was not implemented properly. “Schools misinterpreted no-fail to mean no-exams, but this was because of the lack of awareness about how to execute the policy,” said Bhat.
FEW UNDER RTE
Minority schools and government-aided schools need not set aside the 25% quota under the RTE Act, leaving just 334 schools in Mumbai where children from weak backgrounds can get free education. The move to exempt minority schools, following a Supreme Court ruling, means several reputed schools in the city (most of them are religious or linguistic minorities) are exempted from the ambit of the RTE Act. And, many more are vying for the minority tag.
“Schools are now making a beeline to get the minority tag. The number of schools claiming minority status has shot up,” said Sudhir Paranjape, a member of the NGO Anudanit Shiksha Bachao Samiti.
Of the 334 schools that do offer admissions, several do so only from Class 1, even though they have classes from kindergarten. This is because the government reimbursement begins from Class1 Thisyear schoolshadthe level, and most chose Class 1.
Education officials, however, said fewer seats was not the problem, as all parents want to apply to the most sought-after schools.
RTE FRAUDS
Another issue is of parents trying to get children admitted under the quota, even when they do not qualify. Last week, a Sion school discovered six students allotted to them had fake birth certificates
Last year, schools in Goregaon — Yashodham and Lakshadham — found 30 to 40 parents had submitted fake income certificates to claim an annual income lower than Rs1 lakh. “There is a big racket in the RTE admissions. Last year, we found out about it because our staff checked documents. Before that, only the government would verify. Many more cases might have gone undetected,” said a school spokesperson.
NO DROP-OUT CHECKS
A drive mandated by the Act to identify students who never enrolled, or have dropped out — to ensure no child is deprived of education — has also failed. “These initiatives are superficial,” said Herambh Kulkarni, an activist from Pune. “It isn’t enough to register children in school. Monitoring to check if they actually attend is needed.”