On Saturday, 3 May 2008 Wada Na Todo members accompanied by Member of Parliament, D Raja met the Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh to present a memorandum urging the Government to adopt the Right to Education Bill.
“This Parliamentary session is almost over but I assure you that we will table it in the next |
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| session, he told the delegation led by D. Raja, MP and National Secretary, CPI. I will present it at the Cabinet meeting next week so that it is approved for the Monsoon session, ¨ said the Minister. |
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| “The Bill is already overdue,” said D Raja, “and should be made into law immediately.” He also told the Minister that the government´s expenditure in education should be reversed to increase expenditure in public education to 6% of the GDP, as promised in the UPA government´s Common Minimum Programme. |
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| “The government has to ensure that every child, irrespective of his or her ethnic background, gets basic school education and quality education across states” said Ashok Bharti, Convener of the Abhiyan. Already 3 lakh children have sent in their signatures to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram under their ´9 is mine´ campaign to demand that the |
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| government keeps its promise to invest 6% and 3% of the GDP into basic education and public health,¨ he said. “The education ministry has a special role to play in ensuring education for all so that India is able to maintain its high growth rate,” said Aditi Kapoor, member of the Abhiyan. |
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| On April 22, 2008, experts from civil society, academics and government representatives met to discuss and inspect the national programme outcomes and the right to education. Insufficient resources, lack of political will, bureaucratic complacency and pervasive social exclusion have kept over half the country’s children from completing a meaningful basic education, experts felt. |
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| R. Govinda, professor from the National University of Education Planning and Administration, drew attention to the various zones of exclusion existing within the schooling system. “We don’t have schools in India, but social ghettos, each defined socio-economically. SSA has little to do with the right to education, as the latter is about entitlements and like most development |
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| programmes, SSA is input-oriented,” said R. Govinda. Entitlements can work only in an inclusive framework, he added. The very fact that SSA is just a flagship scheme of the central government and does not rest on a political mandate unlike the right to education makes it inherently weak. |
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| Vinod Raina from Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) spoke on the casteism that exists even within government schools, ranging from the respectable Kendriya Vidyalayas to the makeshift rural Education Guarantee Centres (EGCs) that lack bare minimum infrastructure and teachers for quality learning. “There is a need to define quality of education, delivery mechanisms and inclusiveness,” he added. |
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| Ashok Bharti, Convenor of WNTA, said community mobilisation is critical to the universalisation of education. The Shiksha Adhikar Yatra by WNTA in Haryana last year was an awareness drive that led to enrolment of hundred children. A growing cause of concern is the mushrooming of private educational institutions, experts felt, as it perpetuates the existing societal inequalities and hierarchy, thus further disempowering the weaker sections of society. |
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| Paucity of funds |
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Siba Shankar Mohanty from Centre for Budget, Governance and Accountability (CBGA) noted the declining priority of the states in terms of financial commitment to the education sector. Describing it as a “precarious condition”, he added growing privatisation has led to a high 18% proportionate share of accredited private schools providing elementary education to the total number of schools in 2007, way above the figure of 7.9% in 1979.
The government’s shortfall on expenditure on education is further compounded by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act where any decline in revenue is compensated by an immediate reduction in expenditure and the social sector is the worst hit by such compression of funds.
By the end of the 11th five-year plan, the central government seeks to increase the states’ share to SSA from 15% to 50%. However, given the current scenario of resource crunch and the lack of priority, such a move may not improve the situation. |
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| Need for a holistic and action-oriented approach |
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| To deliver results, mere investment in the scheme would not help. The SSA would be insufficient in meeting its desired goal unless other corrective mechanisms are in place. Poor performance in schools is attributed to lack of trained teaching staff, poverty and social mindset. An alarming percentage of dropouts and those who despite completing the minimum eight years of schooling are not able to read and write properly, reflect the dismal state of affairs. |
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| D. Raja, Member of Parliament Committee on HRD said that India needs to have a common school system which is more representative and equity based. Poverty, social exclusion, child labour and gender discrimination need to be incorporated in policy formulation for meaningful education. Moreover, a favourable environment can be built in from of pre-school education, good nutrition and early childhood care. |
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| Though, some progress has been achieved, mostly through increased public demand, improved sector management and civil society and judicial pressure, a deeper level of negotiation and engagement with the states is crucial. Educational planning and administration should be decentralised to bring it closer to the people. Issues of transparency and |
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| accountability for effective implementation were also raised, with particular focus on social auditing and periodic evaluation of such schemes. At the end of the discussion, the participants submitted a memorandum to D. Raja, urging the HRD ministry to introduce the Right to Education Bill in the current session of the Parliament. |
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| With Inputs from Manasi Singh and Swati Sahi, One World South Asia |
| >>View photographs of the delegate to HRD Minister |
| >>View photographs of the SSA Panel Discussion |
| >>Download Presentations by the speakers |
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