Members of various NGOs and child rights activists, working for free, compulsory and quality education for underprivileged children, on Thursday lamented the fact that formulators and writers of the Right to Education (RTE) Act had failed to include children belonging to diverse minority groups.
At a state-level training for various stakeholders on the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — also known as RTE Act — activists alleged that children with various disabilities, HIV/AIDS-infected children and children of devadasis and sex workers had no mention in the act. “RTE Act ignores children from minority groups.
The act is almost silent about children who belong to various minority groups. That way a large portion of the children have been left out from the preview of the act,” rued Padmini, trustee of Child Rights Trust, an NGO based in Bangalore.
“The act is discriminatory and biased against disabled children, children with HIV/AIDS and children of devadasis and sex workers.”
The two-day consultations that started on Wednesday were organised by Karnataka Child Rights Observatory, a Bangalore-based child rights observatory group.
The RTE Act proposes to provide free and compulsory education to children between the age group of six and 14. “Itviolates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child framed on November 20, 1989. The UN convention clearly states that a child is a person under the age of 18 years.
India is a signatory of the convention. Apart from this the act or the state draft rules do not mention the need for special educators for children with various disabilities. The special educator is one who is well-equipped to handle all kinds of disability,” said Paul Ramanathan, director of SAMA foundation, a Bangalore-based voluntary organisation working for disabled people.
The act is alsosilent about kids of sex workers .
“Most of the female sex workers and devadasis are single parents. Denying them the right to education is injustice,” said Manoj Puttur, an activist who works for the rights of sex workers and devadasis.