Right to school but halfway Demand education

Demand education — it is finally a fundamental right.

The Centre is launching tomorrow the landmark right to education law that will entitle all children between six and 14 to schooling, wrapped in a publicity blitz unparalleled for education plans in the country.

But behind the hype, an anxious human resource development ministry is trying to put in place a mechanism to implement the law on the ground, aware that tomorrow’s launch is largely symbolic.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the nation on television in the morning, and the government is putting out large advertisements announcing the launch.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal has spoken to heads of some private television channels, which have agreed to publicise the launch of the law for free over the next few days, sources said.

“From tomorrow, every child between six and 14 will have the right to demand schooling. This was the UPA’s promise... the dream of the Congress party leadership under Sonia Gandhi and the PM, and we have delivered,” Sibal told reporters today.

Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act passed by Parliament last year, schools can no longer conduct any selection scrutiny in admitting students. School administrators and teachers who seek donations or beat students can be punished.

All schools will have to undergo a quality scrutiny in order to continue. No child can be failed till Class VIII or denied admission because of the absence of any age proof.

Private schools will have to admit 25 per cent students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds for free, for which they will be reimbursed by the government.

Schools, many of which are run now as private firms, will be scrutinised by school management committees with 75 per cent members from the neighbourhood community, including parents of students.

But the Centre and states still have to put in place the architecture to implement on the ground these provisions of the law.

Under the law, students and their parents need to complain about most violations to a local authority that can then decide to seek prosecution. Parents and children cannot directly seek prosecution for most offences.

However, neither any state nor the Centre has identified and notified the designated local authorities yet.

The HRD ministry has circulated model rules for the law to all states. Each state and the Centre will need to notify rules independently to lay down detailed norms for the implementation of the act.

The rules of a particular state will, for instance, define what constitutes a neighbourhood under the act. The law requires the central and state governments to ensure schools in every neighbourhood within three years. The central rules will apply to Union territories and central schools while state rules will apply to their territory.

But no state is in any position to notify the rules any time soon, HRD ministry sources admitted.

The Centre hopes to notify its rules by early next week. “We are hoping that the notification of the central rules will pressure states into finalising and notifying their rules early,” a ministry official said.

The biggest challenge staring at the central and state governments in the implementation of the law, however, is the funding for the mechanisms and structures the act demands.

The government has arrived at a figure of Rs 1,71,000 crore over the next five years — an amount that states have to share with the Centre.

The HRD ministry plans to approach the cabinet with a proposal for a 65:35 funds sharing ratio between the Centre and the states. The Centre will bear 90 per cent of the financial burden for the northeastern states.

States have objected to this fund-sharing proposal. Most states are refusing to shell out more than 10 per cent of the expenditure.

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100401/jsp/frontpage/story_12290471.jsp