Right to education -merely as a lip service and never implemented properly

The right to health – a right which guarantees life – and the right to employment that guarantees living, it is right to education that is the most important duty of the government, as it guarantees the right to life and living with dignity. And thus, it is a must that the right to education is something that should be implemented in reality. Every child born in India should have access to good schooling and should have access to the means required to get educated. If there is anything that accounts for a level playing ground, it is education. An educated man is any day a more worthwhile resource for an economy than an uneducated man, and education, it must be said, is the cheapest service that any government can provide its citizens. And education has nothing to do with poverty. A poorer Kerala has almost double the literacy rate than a far richer Punjab; as is the case with a poorer Vietnam when compared to India.

Historically, Right to Education (RTE), a fundamental right, came into effect on April 1, 2010. With this right every children in the age group of 6-14 years, of this nation, has the right to free education and the government is in compulsion to do so. How many children have claimed their right to education till now? If no one has claimed it, this means either everyone is educated or they don’t feel the importance of education or they don’t know whether they have any ‘Right’ as such. There has not been any great achievement in this regard.

Many reforms and measures were taken and implemented but there has not been any great achievement in this regard. This concept remained lip service due to political interference, budgetary neglect and social indifference that lead us to a dead end where millions of children get no education at all. What are the exact problems with this and what are the solutions to these problems?

Five aspects critical to the implementation of programs in elementary education:

• better targeting,
• flexibility,
• focus on accountability,
• stronger linkages
• Evaluative research and monitoring.

The first step towards right to education was taken right after Independence in 1950 when the Constitution (Art.45) by way of a directive principle promised free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. This was to be attained within 10 years but the States responsible for implementing the constitutional promise of primary education for all children did not do so for decades.

EARLIER MAJOR REFORMS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION (1968- 2001)

National Education Policy and Operation Blackboard

The year 1968 was the famous year of Kothari Commission (working 1964-66) and it’s National Educational Policy (NPE). A new pedagogy related to the individual child, lesser burden on exams and homework, and a Common School System was proposed.

The concept of national system of such schools (as the West had since early 1900s) would imply, according to NPE  1968, and then reiterated in the 1986 version of NPE, that, up to a given level, all students, irrespective of caste, creed, location, or sex, have access to education of comparable quality. But despite this policy, education system faced the lack of responsibility and accountability it perceived among teachers. Measures regarding teachers were implemented but little happened on the ground.

The school reformer PM Rajiv Gandhi himself decided in a military vocabulary to launch Operation Blackboard in 1986. The Operation Blackboard package consisted of three interdependent components of two rooms, two teachers and a set of teaching-learning aids. But the operation failed immensely in finance, logistics and overall implementation. The operation was too little, too late, too uncoordinated, and for too short time (3 years).

In mid 1990s another reform was launched, now with some help from the World Bank, EU, UK and other donors: District Primary Education Programme (DPEP). The aims were to provide access to schools or equivalent non-formal education centres for all un-enrolled children, increase learning levels, haul in drop outs and to manage school administration better.

And with the World Bank a primary education flagship program, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has been launched since 2001.

It is worth noting that every reform or measure has faced implementation issues and it is well known in India that “the devil lays in the implementation

The most tragic concern with these reforms is the under spending of the allocated budget and 30% of all funds never get spent at all. So there is a need for better accountability, transparency and predictability especially with regards to cash flow.

there is a need for better accountability, transparency and predictability especially with regards to cash flow.

POLICY VERSUS IMPLEMENTATION

In India, policy is considered more prestigious than implementation. Implementation is the main area upon which it needs to work out as India always lacks in this front. Going by the results of earlier education reforms, implementation is not taken into account serioulsy in these governmental reforms where the lack of accountability is obvious. Policy makers tend to explain them by lack of resources, bureaucracy, lethargia etc. but seldom take responsibility for results and track accountability back from outcomes, i.e. students’ learning achievements, parental satisfaction and productivity of the school system itself. These parameters must be audited and taken into account when reform is coming along.

If private schools worked like the government school, they would be out of business immediately. Imagine a private school without headmaster, teachers, inefficient spending, and poor management? It is not possible. What the governmental school system lacks, the private has in some respect and its share of the students are on the rise, now at 30% of all children and in majority in some metros.

India has been facing financial constraints, political interference, social indifference, overall implementation, lack of accountability and responsibility. So what is the lesson to be learnt from this history as far as RTE goes? Does the government flagship programme Right to Education want to learn from the private sector? That remains to be seen. When a country such as India does not have inexhaustible financial resources, it must make sure that every grand and positive initiative is not wasted.