KEY TRENDS
• Every child of the age of six to fourteen years shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education*
• No child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing the elementary education*
• For carrying out the provisions of this Act, the appropriate Government and the local authority shall establish, within such area or limits of neighbourhood, as may be prescribed, a school, where it is not so established, within a period of three years from the commencement of this Act*
• The Central Government and the State Government shall have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of this Act*
• The Central Government shall prepare the estimates of capital and recurring expenditure for the implementation of the provisions of the Act*
• The Central Government shall—(a) develop a framework of national curriculum with the help of academic authority specified under section 29; (b) develop and enforce standards for training of teachers; (c) provide technical support and resources to the State Government for promoting innovations, researches, planning and capacity building*
• Every local authority shall ensure that the child belonging to weaker section and the child belonging to disadvantaged group are not discriminated against and prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education on any grounds*
• The local authority shall provide infrastructure including school building, teaching staff and learning material*
• No school or person shall, while admitting a child, collect any capitation fee and subject the child or his or her parents or guardian to any screening procedure. In case a school charges capitation fee, it shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ten times the capitation fee charged*
• No child shall be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment*
• No child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class or expelled from school till the completion of elementary education*
• A school, other than a school specified in sub-clause (iv) of clause (n) of section 2, shall constitute a School Management Committee consisting of the elected representatives of the local authority, parents or guardians of children admitted in such school and teachers*
• Article 21A, as inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, provides for free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such manner as the State may, by law, determine*
* The Right of the Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008 http://www.esocialsciences.com/data/articles/Document12772009230.3466761.pdf
Please note that information about education as a category of Human Development Index and many more related themes is also given under "Hunger/ HDI" section of the im4change website. For best results, please check out both sections. Click here:
http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=50
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Salient features of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009
• The Parliament of India has adopted ‘The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009,’ which envisages free and compulsory education to children in the 6-14 age group with the Lok Sabha approving it by voice vote. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill on July 20, 2009. On 4 August, 2009 the Lok Sabha passed the bill*
• While 25 per cent of seats in every private school would be allocated for children from disadvantaged groups including differently-abled children at the entry level, as far as minority institutions were concerned up to 50 per cent of those seats could be offered to students from their communities*
• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008 or Right to Education (RTE) Bill, a big move in order to make education a fundamental right for every child in the 6-14 age group, was cleared by the Union Cabinet on 2 July, 2009. It was scheduled to be introduced in the current session of the Indian Parliament. The first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government (2004-2009) spent five years discussing and debating it through various committees and groups of minister, and by the time it was finalized, the Bill could not be introduced in Rajya Sabha. Therefore, the Bill, incorporating three major suggestions by the Standing Committee of Parliament, had to be brought to the Cabinet again**
• When RTE becomes law, it would empower the seven-year-old 86th Constitutional amendment that made free and compulsory education a fundamental right. The RTE Bill sets down guidelines for states and the Centre to execute and enforce this right. Earlier, education was part of the directive principles of state policy**
• Both the Centre and states will be responsible for the finances. The Centre will prepare the capital and recurring expenditure and provide it as grants-in-aid to each state from time to time. However, the share between the Centre and states will be decided later**
• The legislation has a host of features that stress not only on reaching out to every child in the 6-14 age group but also on quality and accountability of the state and education system**
• To ensure that the law gets effectively implemented, the Bill has provisions prohibiting teachers from undertaking private tuition as well as not letting them being used for non-educational purposes. There is also a provision that teacher vacancy should never exceed more than 10% of the total strength**
• To ensure that parents have equal stake in the system, the bill provides for school management committees in all government and aided schools. Women have been given 50% reservation in the school committees. Each committee will monitor and oversee the working of the school, manage its assets and ensure quality**
• To monitor implementation of the law, the Bill proposes a National Advisory Council at the centre and state advisory council in each state capital. In case of complaints of non-compliance, the initial complaint would go to local authority and should be resolved within 90 days**
• Key issues: • There are no specific penalties if the authorities fail to provide the right to elementary education; • Both the state government and the local authority have the duty to provide free and compulsory elementary education. Sharing of this duty may lead to neither government being held accountable; • The Bill provides for the right to schooling and physical infrastructure but does not guarantee that children learn. It exempts government schools from any consequences if they do not meet the specified norms; • The constitutional validity of reservations of seats in private schools for economically weaker sections could be challenged; • Minority schools are not exempt from provisions in this Bill. It is possible that this will conflict with Article 30 of the Constitution, which allows minorities to set up and administer educational institutions; • The Bill legitimises the practice of multi-grade teaching. The number of teachers shall be based on the number of students rather than by grade%$
• The Bill places the onus on the government to ensure enrolment of all children, but does not identify which government agency will be responsible for this task. It is unclear how the appropriate authority will ensure and monitor that working children and children living on the streets without a parent or guardian will be enrolled in school. Both the appropriate government and the local authority share responsibility of providing free and compulsory education to every child. Sharing of this duty may lead to neither government being held accountable%$
• The Bill bans schools from collecting capitation fees or holding screening procedures while admitting students. A sub-section details the punishment for these crimes — a fine 10 times the capitation fee charged, Rs 25,000 for the first complaint of an admission test and Rs 50,000 subsequently. Other sub-sections outline the fine on schools that run without government recognition. The fine for starting a school without recognition is Rs 1 lakh and an additional fine of Rs 10,000 per day is listed for continuing without recognition. But Section 36 towards the end of the bill specifies that prosecution — for charging capitation fees, conducting admission screening and running a school without recognition — will be allowed only conditionally--“No prosecution for (these) offences… shall be instituted except with the previous sanction of an officer authorised in this behalf, by the appropriate government, by notification,” Section 36 states%%
• Section 37 goes further. It protects the Centre, the states, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and its state equivalents, the local government and school authorities from legal action if they violate the bill in “good faith” %%
• Section 37 protects the Centre, the states, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and its state equivalents, the local government and school authorities from legal action if they violate the bill in “good faith”- “No suit or other legal proceedings shall lie against the central government, the state government, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the local authority, the school management committee or any person, in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done, in pursuance of this act, or any rules or order made thereunder” %%
• The Bill does not define what constitutes “good faith” %%
* J Balaji, Parliament nod for Right to Education Bill, The Hindu, http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/05/stories/2009080558780100.htm
** Akshaya Mukul, The Times of India,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Bill-making-free-education-fundamental-right-gets-cabinet-nod/articleshow/4730147.cms).
% $ PRS Legislative Research,
http://prsindia.org/index.php?name=Sections&action=bill_details&id=6&bill_id=199&category=43&parent_category=1
%% Clauses dilute school bill penal provisions by Charu Sudan Kasturi, http://telegraphindia.com/1090724/jsp/frontpage/story_11276066.jsp
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Detailed below is a brief account of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill's turbulent journey
• In 2002, the 86th Constitutional Amendment was passed.
• In 2003, the first draft of the Right to Education bill was circulated for public
• In 2004, the second draft of the bill, drafted after consideration of the feedback to the first draft, was posted on the Education Department website.
• In June 2005, the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee drafted the ‘Right to Education Bill' and submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). MHRD sent it to the National Advisory Council (NAC) where Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was the Chairperson. The NAC sent the Bill to the Prime Minister for his observation.
• In July 2006, the finance committee and planning commission rejected the Bill citing the lack of funds and a Model bill was sent to states for the making necessary arrangements. (Post-86th amendment, States had already cited lack of funds at State level)
• The States promptly sent the model bill back to the Centre citing lack of funds.The bill was virtually buried for two years.
• In February, 2008 the Ministry of Human Resource Development circulated another draft of the bill.
• In August, 2008 the Union Cabinet referred the Right to Education Bill to the Group of Ministers (GoM), a high-powered group of ministers formed to look into operationalising the Fundamental Right to Education.
• On October 31, 2008 the Union Cabinet cleared a revised draft of the bill, as yet unreleased to the public. The GoM had passed on the draft to the Cabinet earlier that month.
• On 1 November, 2008, the Union Cabinet cleared the long-pending Right to Education Bill, which promises free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14.
• On 15 December, 2008 the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha and released to the public on the Rajya Sabha website.
• On 18 February, 2009 the Standing Committee released its report of recommendations and placed it before both the houses of Parliament, which were in session at the time.
• On 26 February, 2009 the Parliament ended its budget session without passing the bill.
• On 20 July, 2009 the Rajya Sabha passed the bill with minor changes to the 2008 draft bill.
• On 4 August, 2009 the Lok Sabha passed the bill.
According to the figures provided by CRY, NGO Global March Against Child Labour, and UNICEF, http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/oct/edu-rightedu.htm:
• Only 53 per cent of all habitations have a primary school
• On an average, an upper primary school is 3 km away in 22 percent of habitations
• More than 50 percent of the girls in the country do not enrol in schools
• When working outside the family, children put in an average of 21 hours of labour per week, at the cost of education
• 60 million children are thought to be child labourers
• More than 35 million children in the 6-14 age group are out of school
• Only 45.8 percent girls complete education in rural areas as compared to 66.3 percent boys. In urban areas, 66.3 percent girls complete education as opposed to 80.3 percent boys
• Of the seven lakh rural schools, only one in six have toilets
According to the Indian Constitution,
http://www.right-to-education.org/country-node/353/country-constitutional
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Art. 21A. The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine. (EIGHTY-SIXTH AMENDMENT ACT, 2002)
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Act. 41. Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases. The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.
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Art. 45. Provision for free and compulsory education for children. The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years
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The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years. (EIGHTY-SIXTH AMENDMENT ACT, 2002)
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Art. 46. Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections.
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The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation
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Art. 51A (k) who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years. (EIGHTY-SIXTH AMENDMENT ACT, 2002)**page**
According to various sources of newspapers,
http://infochangeindia.org/200812177540/Education/News/Right-to-Education-Bill-introduced-in-Rajya-Sabha.html:
• Following the recommendations of Saikia Committee, the government has introduced 83rd Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament in 1997 to make right to education from 6-14 years a fundamental right.
• The Supreme Court in its judgment in Unnikrishnan's case (1993) has already held that citizens of India have a fundamental right to education upto 14 years of age
• The Right to Education Bill is the enabling legislation to notify the 86th constitutional amendment that gives every child between the age of six and 14 the right to free and compulsory education. But it has been 61 years in the making
(Read the full text of the Bill at:
http://educationforallinindia.com/RighttoEducationBill2005.pdf)
• It was only in 2002 that education was made a fundamental right in the 86th amendment to the Constitution. In 2004, the government in power, the NDA, drafted a Bill but lost the elections before it could be introduced..
What is it?
• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008, was an enabling legislation without which the fundamental right -- enacted by Parliament in December 2002 – could not come into effect.
• The 86th constitutional amendment passed in Parliament six years ago made free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 6 and 14 a fundamental right. Besides giving every child in this age-group the right to free and compulsory education, the Bill also seeks to evolve norms and standards for primary education, complete with minimum qualifications for teachers, pupil-teacher ratio, and a ban on private tuitions by teachers.
• The statement of object and reasons clearly explains the aim of the legislation: ‘The proposed legislation is anchored in the belief that the values of equality, social justice and democracy and the creation of a just and humane society can be achieved only through provision of inclusive elementary education to all.’
• The statement adds: ‘The provision of free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality to children from disadvantaged and weaker sections is, therefore, not merely the responsibility of schools run or supported by the appropriate governments, but also of schools which are not dependent on government funds.’
• The Bill provides that no child be denied admission for lack of age proof. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that every child in the target age-group has access to a school in the neighbourhood within three years of the law’s enactment.
• The Bill also tries to rope in the private sector by making it mandatory for schools to reserve 25% of the seats in Class 1 every year for children from disadvantaged sections of society in the neighbourhood. The government will reimburse the education expenses of these students.
• The Bill prohibits the charging of capitation fees, making it a punishable offence with fines up to 10 times the capitation fee charged. It also prohibits screening of either parents or children at the time of admission; fines as high as Rs 25,000 will be levied for the first contravention and Rs 50,000 for subsequent contraventions. Detention or expulsion from any class until the completion of elementary education, and physical punishment, are also not permitted. None of this is expected to sit well with the private school lobby.
Right to Education Bill cleared in November 2008
More than six decades after Independence, the Indian government has cleared the Right to Education Bill that makes free and compulsory education a fundamental right for all children between the ages of 6 and 14
Key provisions of the Bill include:
• 25% reservation in private schools for disadvantaged children from the neighbourhood, at the entry level. The government will reimburse expenditure incurred by schools.
• No donation or capitation fee on admission.
• No interviewing the child or parents as part of the screening process
• The Bill also prohibits physical punishment, expulsion or detention of a child, and deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes other than census or election duty and disaster relief. Running a school without recognition will attract penal action.
• The draft Bill aims to provide elementary schools in every neighbourhood within three years -- though the word “school” encompasses a whole spectrum of structures. A set of minimum norms have been worked out as there’s the usual barrier of paperwork in remote rural and poor urban areas. The State is also obliged to tide over any financial compulsions that may keep a child out of school.
• The Right to Education Bill is the enabling legislation to notify the 86th constitutional amendment that gives every child between the age of six and 14 the right to free and compulsory education. But it has been 61 years in the making.
• Critics of the Bill question the age provision. They say children below six years and above 14 should be included. Also, the government has not addressed the issue of shortage of teachers, low skill levels of many teachers, and lack of educational infrastructure in existing schools let alone the new ones that will have to be built and equipped.