IN THE INTEREST OF EDUCATION

The Government of INDIA targets to guarantee elementary education to children between the age of 6 and 14 years; it expects to increase access to education & improve the quality of education being provided through the RTEA. Challenge and opportunity to citizens to help our elected government.

Contents
1.Intro of RTEA-2009 2. Primary education 3. Elementary edu.
4.Norms of RTEA 5.Various concerns 6.Present Scenario 7.Free, high quality 8. State & Union duties 9. Union has done a lot 10. Debate since April 1 11.Types of schools 12. Education as market
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The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act _ RTEA- 2009
The 86th constitutional amendment [2002] has made

elementary education a fundamental right for the children between the age group- 6 to 14, with the RTE Act passed by the India parliament in 2009. It provides for free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. The act came into force on April 1, 2010. Earlier, programs like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid-day meal schemes and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas have been already been functioning.
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Right to Education Act 2009

The act also provides that,

no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education.
Provision for special training

of school drop-outs to bring them at-par with the students of the same age.
Right to Education of Person

with Disabilities till 18 years of age has been made a Fundamental Right.

The act also provides for establishment of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and State Commissions for supervising of proper implementation of the act, looking after the complaints and protection of Child Rights.
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Primary education
Education, primary education in particular, is

expected to bring about desirable behavioral changes in young children in the areas of:
(1) knowledge and understanding, (2) skill and competence, (3) attitudes and interest, and (4) action patterns.
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Primary education
Primary education, thus, is the foundation for the

development of the child in his social, intellectual, and physical aspects. The school is required to inculcate the cultural values and prepare the child for various developmental tasks of his life. It should promote expression of his innate qualities of head, heart and hand, to their maximum capacities. Education is the basic necessity for a child to grow into a responsible citizen.
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Elementary Education in India

Elementary education is preparatory. It prepares the

pupil to go on to something else, and put his foot on the first step of the ladder of knowledge. Primary education must do everything possible to make pupils feel that they belong to a society, to knit them into a social fabric, and make them aware of their social responsibilities. The objectives of elementary education are (i) to enable self-realization; (ii) to develop better human relations, and (iii) to enable fulfillment to civic responsibilities.
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Elementary education consists of eight years of education.

According to the 2001 census, the total

literacy rate in India is 65.38%. The female literacy rate is only 54.16%. The gap between rural and urban literacy rate is also very significant in India. This is evident from the fact that only 59.4% of rural population are literate as against 80. 3% urban population according to the 2001 census.
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Norms for government / private schools

The Act specifies the minimum norms in

government as well as private schools.

It specifies reservation of 25% seats in private

schools also for children from poor families, prohibits the practice of unrecognized schools, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation and no interview of the child or parent for the admission.(This is under judicial scrutiny now)
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Norms for SCHOOLS: RT E A

Other provisions regarding improvement of school

infrastructure, teacher-student ratio and faculty have also been provided in the act. A committee set up to study the funds requirement and funding estimated that Rs 1.71 lakh crore would be required in the next five years for implementing the Act. The government agreed to sharing of funds in the ratio of 65 to 35 between the Centre and the states for implementing the law, with a ratio of 90 to 10 for the north-eastern states.
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Struggle for universalizing elementary education

EVERYBODY ACKNOWLEDGES THE VALUE OF EDUCATION IN THE OVERALL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILDREN.

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Administrators focus on
Enrolment Availability of schools within walking distance Provisioning for infrastructure Deployment of teachers

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Educationists are concerned about

What is Learnt, how is it presented?

Whether or how children learn, and the Burden of syllabi, which is passed on to

Tuition centres or Parents

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 Development professionals discuss

The impact of years of schooling, for example

on the age of marriage and family size.

Economists talk about the economic returns on Investment in education Parents have expectations from the education system_ that it should equip their children for gainful employment, and economic well being.
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Fulfill goals of universal elementary education

The enforcement of fundamental

right to education provides us a unique opportunity to mount a mission encompassing all the above discourses to fulfill our goal of universal elementary education.
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Education System in India:

The present education

system in India mainly comprises of primary education, secondary education, senior secondary education and higher education. Elementary education consists of eight years of education. Each of secondary and senior secondary education consists of two years of education. Higher education in India starts after passing the higher secondary education or the 12th standard.
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Dropped out, child labourers

There are invisible children_ children bonded

to work with an employer, young boys grazing cattle or working in a dhabha girls working in the fields or as domestic help or caring for younger siblings, and children being subjected to early marriage. Many of these children are formally enrolled in a school but have either dropped out or have never been there.
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Extremely vulnerable ones

Many others such as migrant and

street children, who live in extremely vulnerable conditions; denying them education is against the universal nature of human rights.
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Enrol, attend, learn, and Be empowered by education

Providing universal access itself is no longer

enough; making available school facility is essential but not sufficient. A monitoring mechanism is needed to ensure that all children attend school regularly and participate in the learning process.

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Not attending, drop-out in a few months?

Focus must be on the factors that

prevent children from regularly attending & completing elementary education. Children from
weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, as also girls. SOCIAL,CULTURAL,ECONOMIC,

LINGUISTIC AND PEDAGOGIC ISSUES

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Large student population of India

India has a large student population with over

13.5cr pupils in primary education. India has the second-largest population in the world of over 110cr people (1.1bn), with a literacy rate of 61%. Educating such a large population is not only an expensive task but also a very difficult one. This task is being handled primarily by the government through its school infrastructure and large Budgetary outlays..
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India has approximately 2,50,000 private schools, present generally in urban clusters and about 3,00,000 budget schools with tight budget.

These schools share a sizable load of educating

the Indian student population and satisfy demand for quality of education and infrastructure by the Indian middle and elite class. To provide quality education, these schools are on always on the look-out for better content, which is also provided by the education companies.
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The Economic Times Mumbai Date: Nov 23, 2010

The Right to Education (RTE) Act threatens the very existence of about 300,000 budget schools. Their fate now rests with the states, says John Samuel Raja D.

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As Tamil Nadu gets ready to implement the Right to Education (RTE) Act, private schools, parents, educationists and NGOs appear sceptical about key clauses of the legislation. Ensuring quality education and a stable teacher-pupil Stumbling blocks to RTE Act ratio may prove to be stumbling blocks on the road to achieving free and compulsory education for all. more 24 slideshows

Reservation of 25% seats in private schools for children from poor families
The school may be Social, economic,

there but students may not attend, or drop out after a few months. Through school & social mapping, many issues need to be addressed that prevent a weak child from completing the process of education.

cultural, linguistic, pedagogic issues Denial or violation of the right to elementary education process requires to be overcome with the encouragement and enlightenment of the weak & vulnerable.
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Free, compulsory and of high quality

The right to education is free, compulsory and

it includes good quality education for all.

A curriculum not only provides good reading

and understanding of text books but also includes learning through activities, exploration and discovery.
Comprehension, competence,

competitiveness and creativity should be developed, not forgetting compassion.

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Free, compulsory and of high quality

The right to education is free, compulsory and

it includes good quality education for all.

A curriculum not only provides good reading

and understanding of text books but also includes learning through activities, exploration and discovery.
Comprehension, competence,

competitiveness and creativity should be developed, not forgetting compassion.

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Education Depts of State & Union Governments have direct responsibility

To provide schools, infrastructure, trained teachers, curriculum and teaching-learning material, and mid-day meal. A well coordinated mechanism is needed for inter- sectoral collaboration & convergence.
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On the part of the whole Govts:

The factors that contribute to the

achievement of the overall goal of universalizing elementary education as a fundamental right requires action on the part of the whole Governments.
A well coordinated mechanism is needed for inter- sectoral collaboration & convergence.
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Timely & appropriate financial allocations, redesign school spaces

The Finance Department to release

funds at all levels.

The Public Works Dept. to re-conceive

and redesign school spaces from the pedagogic perspective & Address issues of including disabled children through barrier free access.
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Provide Social & Location Mapping of schools, Water & sanitation facilities
The Dept. of Science & Technology to

provide geo-spatial technology to perform at grass-root survey. Provision of access to sufficient safe drinking water Provision and access to adequate sanitation facilities, specially for girl child.
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ROLE OF CIVIL SOCEITY in RTE

Above all, peoples groups, civil society

organizations & voluntary agencies will play an crucial role in the implementation of the RTE Act. This will help build a new perspective on inclusiveness, encompassing gender & social inclusion, & ensure that these become integral & crosscutting concerns informing different aspects like training, curriculum and classroom transaction.
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ROLE OF CIVIL SOCEITY

A VIBRANT CIVIL SOCEITY MOVEMENT

CAN ENSURE THAT THE PARENT / CHILD FROM WEAKER OR DISADVANTAGED SECTIONS BECOME AWARE OF THE VALUE OF EXERCISING THE RIGHT TO ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AND PUT IN SERIOUS EFFORTS ON THEIR PART. NGO contribution of knowledge, ideas and solutions to the challenges are needed.
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:

"We are committed to ensuring that all children, irrespective of gender and social category, have access to education. An education that enables them to acquire the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes

necessary to become responsible

and active citizens of India
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The 86th constitutional amendment (2002), And the RTE Act (2009), have given us the tools to provide quality education to all our

children. It is now imperative that we the

people of India join hands to ensure the

implementation of this law in its true spirit.

The Government is committed to this task though real change will happen through collective action.
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What has the Indian State done in order to give effect to this Fundamental Right as enshrined in Article 21A?

A great deal, Read on ..

To improve access to and taking care of the quality aspect of education:

The government has introduced programs like

the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid-day meal schemes and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas. These schemes stress on the following: Increase the number of schools to provide access to all, Improve infrastructure of existing and new schools by building more classrooms and amenities, Reduce gender inequality, Recruit more teachers and train them to impart education more effectively.
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RTEA Implementation
April 2010 to January 2011: Disputes OF NON-GOVERNMENT SECTOR

Supreme Court on Friday (Oct-01, 2010) admitted a writ petition filed by states CBSE schools to amend certain clauses in the RTE Act.
The petition was filed under the aegis of Karnataka's

Management of Independent CBSE Schools Association (KMICSA). The case has been tagged along with other similar cases which are pending in the court. The petition will now be heard by a constitutional bench of five judges. We would like to know what the government is doing to upgrade the facilities like infrastructure in its schools which constitute nearly 93% of the schools in the country. said Mansoor Ali Khan, general secretary, KMICSA.
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The writ petition of the society for Private Unaided Schools

of Rajasthan challenging the constitutional

validity of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (aka RTE Act); Article 15(5) of the Constitution inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-Third Amendment) Act, 2005; and

Article 21-A inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-Sixth

Amendment) Act, 2002, was admitted for hearing by the Supreme Court on

September 5 and listed as Writ Petition (C) No.95 of

2010.
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The prayers (requests) made to the justices of the apex court in the writ petition are:
(A) Declare the right of Children to Free and

Compulsory Education Act, 2009 unconstitutional as being ultra vires the Constitution and / or strike down ss. 3, 4, 6, 11-15, 17, 23(i), 24 (i) (d) and 29-30 of the Act. Background. S. 3 of the RTE Act entitles every child in the age group six-14 to avail free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education (class VIII). Under s.2 (i) (iv) even private unaided schools not receiving any kind of aids of grants from the appropriate Government or the local authority are included in the definition of school.
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The main grievance of the petitioner is that

under s. 12 (1) (c)

private independent / unaided schools

shall admit in class I to the extent of at least twenty-five percent of the strength of that class children belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group (sic) in the neighbourhood and provide free and compulsory elementary education till its completion.
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The petitioners contention is that s. 12(1) (c) contravenes the Supreme Courts 11- judge verdict in the T.M.A . Pai Foundation vs. Union of India & Ors

(2002) (8 SCC 481), which ruled that

under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution, all citizens have a fundamental right to carry on the occupation of education provision and in particular to (transparently) admit students of their choice (on merit) and to levy reasonable tuition fees to generate surpluses for the growth and development of their education institutions.
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The right of private unaided education institutions to admit students of their choice was reaffirmed and

reiterated by the apex court in P. A. Inamdar

Case (2005) (6 SCC 537), argues the

petitioner.

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Declare Article 15(5) inserted by the Constitution (NinetyThird Amendment) Act, 2005 invalid and violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.
Background. In 2005 the UPA-I government, revived

a proposal of the Mandal Commission (1980) to legislate additional 27 percent reservation ( i. e., in addition to the reservation of 22.5 percent in favour of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) in all Central government institutions of higher education for other

backward castes / classes (OBCs).

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 This proposal was unanimously approved by

Parliament in December 2005 which under the Constitution (Ninety-Third) Amendment Act,

2005 enacted a new Article 15(5).

This constitutional amendment was challenged in Ashok Kumar Thakurs Case (2008) (6 SCC 1). Upholding the 93rd Amendment vis--vis government and private aided institutions (but recommending pro

rata capacity expansion to accommodate merit

students).
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 The court withheld judgment on the applicability of the 93rd Amendment to private unaided institutions for want of challenge. Now in the instant case, the petitioner has challenged the constitutional validity of the 93rd Amendment and Article 15(5). Declare Article 21-A inserted following the enactment of the Constitution (Eighty-Sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 constitutionally invalid. Background. Article 21-A mandates the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children between ages six-14. The 86th Amendment has been challenged because it enables the RTE Act and / or its impugned provisions as set out in prayer (a) above which became effective from April 1, 2010.
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PETITIONS IN COURT AGAINST THE MODALITY OF ACT

The petitioners contended that the Act had

included all sorts of schools within its ambit in violation of the law. The Act is violative of the fundamental right of private unaided schools enshrined under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution and the minority schools enshrined under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution.

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They submitted that though the Act was brought in to make India a knowledge hub, it had serious flaws.
The Act (i) completely fails to address the

issue of quality education.(ii) It discriminates between children by applying the faulty

concept of neighborhood schools, (iii) is silent

on pre-primary education for children

between 3 to 6 years,(iv) makes no mention

of the learning levels of children etc.
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A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will hear a batch of petitions filed by several private unaided and minority schools challenging the government's new Right to Education Act, 2009, which guarantees free and compulsory education for all children between 6 and 14 years of age in the country. Under this law, every child aged 6 to 14 shall have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till elementary education. Continued
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A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar referred the petitions to a Constitution Bench after counsel for the petitioners pointed out that several constitutional provisions required

interpretation.
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 Private schools have become the institution of first

choice for the children of the elite and even of the middle classes. India has provided highly stratified private schools in order to cater to different classes of people. These institutions are delivering good results for their respective clients. Given the size of our population and the magnitude of illiteracy, no transformation is possible through the model of privatisation and by seeking to transform private institutions bear the load of weaker section. There is no short cut except to make an expanded Government school system to function.

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In order to strengthen the campaign against inequitable schooling, the first step is to prioritise and strengthen government schools across the country.

The problem of education today is largely attributable to a complete loss of faith in the quality of existing government schools. Therefore, purely with a view to achieving a strategic interim victory in peoples struggle for the implementation of the right to FCE, the crisis of public schools and the problem of public versus private schools may have to be temporarily separated. This would ensure that the private schools lobby does not derail the entire process of legislating. To this end, legislations for FCE should be divided into two stages.
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 First, any legislation for Free-Compulsory-Education should be limited to addressing issues pertaining to public schools, i.e., government schools.

At a later stage, the first law should be supplemented by another that addresses private schools and the problems of inequality created by public versus private schools Therefore, all issues should be first debated and threshed out in the context of public (govt.) schools in order to build a very strong, clear policy regarding public (govt.) schools across India. However, it should be noted that these issues are also relevant in the context of private schools (both aided and unaided)..
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Private schools shy away from implementing RTE provisions _Shoeb Khan, TNN,
Jan 5, 2011, 05.18am IST, JAIPUR: It came

as a rude shock for parents of economically weaker sections (EWS) whose wards were denied admission under the Right to Education Act, which guarantees 25% reservation in schools at entry level. Most schools don't seem inclined to implement the provisions of the RTE Act as the state government has failed to frame rules in this regard.
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 A few schools are not even accepting the forms under this category, while others are asking the parents to submit complete set of documents including income and domicile certificates. There is so much confusion that many parents do not even understand the modalities of the act. NGOs too have failed to raise awareness about the act among the public. As a result, few parents under the EWS category have dared to approach the premier schools for their child's admission.
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"I can never think of sending my children

to a private English-medium school but I

have dared to purchase an admission

form of a known private school in the city

hoping that they will abide by the law,"

said Rajnish Sharma, a clerk in a private

engineering college.
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While at the face value schools have welcomed the RTE provisions, but have demanded some
changes in the clauses. Damodar Goyal, president, Society for Unaided Schools in Rajasthan argued that schools should be allowed to fill the vacant reserve category seats with general candidates so that they do not incur losses. "Fees is the main source of income for the schools. If the Centre doesn't give any subsidy for taking 25% students from weaker sections, then schools will be left with no choice but to pass the burden on to the other 75% students," said Goyal.
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He also argued against the provision that defines weaker section children as those who belong to a BPL family. "This doesn't define the BPL family either. The Act should have a clause under which BPL family having a BPL card from a competent authority can avail of the benefit," said Goyal. He also objected to Part 5 of Rule 5 which states that local authority shall ensure that names of all children enrolled in the schools under its jurisdiction must be displayed at the school notice board. Advocate Munish Kumar Sharma said, "If any school refuses admission to a child fulfilling the criteria under the EWS category, the parent can challenge it in the court."
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Schools, government headed for face-off? HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times

Public schools and the Delhi government

could be headed for a clash over the issue of the fee structure in the next academic session, 2011-12. Representing the views of the 1,950 unaided schools in the city, Action Committee, an association of private unaided schools, said on Thursday that schools should be given full autonomy in fixing the fee. Schools usually increase their fee by up to 10% every year.
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This year, however, the fee hike could be more to accommodate 25% students from the economically weaker sections (EWS) of society under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The Delhi government had, earlier this month, ruled out any possibility of fee hike in private schools. "Schools should have full autonomy in deciding appointment of teachers and fee structures. How can the government interfere in such matters? asked SK Bhattacharya, president, Action Committee.
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"The reimbursement that is to be provided to private schools by the government for EWS is a misnomer, said K L Luthra, general secretary, Action Committee.

"Providing education to all is not the responsibility of the private sector... the government should be responsible, added Bhattacharya. The association also questioned how the government, which collects 3% education cess,

has utilized the money.

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That RTE is going through several amendments is only natural given its ambitious intent and sweep. The first round of amendment in the RTE is already with the parliamentary standing committee. Amendments pertain to giving the advisory role to the School Management

Committee in minority educational institutions and

widening the scope of `child with disability' so that

it includes persons suffering from autism, cerebral

palsy, mental retardation and other disabilities.
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The government is also seized of another

amendment; the one that seeks to give SMCs an

advisory role in all aided schools. This

amendment was suggested by Kerala politicians

who said letting minority schools have SMCs in an advisory role and not giving the same privilege to aided schools will put the latter in a disadvantageous position.
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Education Services

India is one of the worlds largest education markets

Education Companies in India

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Currently, there are no listed players in this segment in India. The largest pre-school player is KidZee, part of Essel Group (Zee Group). It has over 700 centres across 265 cities in India and abroad. Apart from KidZee, the pre-school market is very

fragmented and going by the way the concept is catching up

in India,
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we expect some consolidation in this space mainly by listed players like Educomp, which has already entered the K12 segment and has indicated intentions to cater to the pre-school segment.

The big advantage in the pre-school segment is

that it is not capital intensive and can generate

positive cash flows as early as second year of

operations currently.
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K12 Segment:
In the K12 segment, formal education is

imparted to children. It starts with lower kinder garten (LKG) till XII standard, following which, students go for professional education. Currently, most schools are run by non-profit charitable institutions. In the past few years, urban areas, in particular, have witnessed rapid growth in number of private unaided schools.
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This was mainly due to resource crunch in public (Govt) schools, which suffer from high rates of teacher absenteeism.
Private schools are divided into two types namely;

recognised schools and

unrecognised schools.

Some famous schools include Delhi Public School

(DPS), Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) and Ramakrishna Mission Schools. Setting up of schools involves huge initial investment to be made. The break even period is about 4-5 years per school.
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The schools are controlled either by the State Government Boards, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (ISCE) board or the National Open School. Also, some international Schools such as the Dhirubhai Ambani International School are part of the education system. As per DISE (District Information System for Education) estimates, there were ~1.1mn schools in India with 4.7mn teachers providing K-12 education to ~230mn students in 2006.
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India is one of the worlds largest education markets, with 445mn of the 1.1bn population comprising the target group (5-24 age) of the

education sector. India needs to address its

high illiteracy and drop-out rates as well as

shortage of skilled workforce to sustain

multi-year high-growth.
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Recognising access-to education as the key focus area for continued current economic growth momentum, the Government is allocating huge resources to the sector. Simultaneously, the private sector is poised to take advantage of the huge opportunity in the sector, given quality of education fast gaining importance due to rising middle-class income.
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Access-to-education Key focus area.

Recognising the importance of education for sustaining economic growth momentum, the Government has committed itself to providing basic/primary education through initiatives such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), utilising Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to the bridge digital divide. It has not only increased outlay on education, but has also encouraged responsible participation by private players.

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Private players for responsible role to participate in the huge multi-year growth opportunity by: i) providing digital content to K-12 schools, ii) setting up own preschools and K-12 schools, iii) undertaking large ICT projects, iv) vocational training/skill development, and v) online/offline tutoring.
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