Dream for INDIA - Right to Education!

Education improves health and livelihoods, empowers women and other vulnerable groups, boosts economic growth and reduces poverty in ways that helps to lock in gains for generations to come. RTE (Right to free and Compulsory Education of Children) act, which focuses attention on improving the quality of education, including through reforming teacher training, deployment and motivation. Reforms in teaching can also ensure people acquire the digital literacy skills demanded by rapidly evolving information and communication technologies and social media. 

On 26th August 2014, the Right to Free and Compulsory Education of Children (RTE) will complete 5 years since the day it got notified as law of the Indian Constitution. The law came into effect in the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1 April 2010, the first time in the history of India a law was brought into force by a speech by the Prime Minister.The landmark law enacted by the United Progressive Alliance in 2009 was yet another entitlement to deliver free compulsory education to all children between the ages of 6 and 14. Till date, no state has met the basic RTE norms of trained teachers, infrastructure requirements or pupil-teacher ratio. 

The main highlights of RTE Act are: 

• Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the six to 14 age group; 
• No child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education; 
• A child above six years of age has not been admitted in any school or though admitted, could not complete his or her elementary education, then, he or she shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his or her age; Provided that where a child is directly admitted in a class appropriate to his or her age, then, he or she shall, in order to be at par with others, have a right to receive special training, in such manner, and within such time limits, as may be prescribed: Provided further that a child so admitted to elementary education shall be entitled to free education till completion of elementary education even after fourteen years. 
• Proof of age for admission: For the purposes of admission to elementary education. The age of a child shall be determined on the basis of the birth certificate issued in accordance with the provisions of the Births. Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1856 or on the basis of such other document, as may be prescribed, No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of age proof. 
• A child who completes elementary education shall be awarded a certificate; 
• Calls for a fixed student-teacher ratio; 
• Will apply to all of India except Jammu and Kashmir; 
• Provides for 25 % reservation for economically disadvantaged communities in admission to Class One in all private schools; 
• Mandates improvement in quality of education; 
• School teachers will need adequate professional degree within five years or else will lose job; 
• School infrastructure (where there is problem) to be improved in three years, else recognition cancelled; 
• Financial burden will be shared between state and central government 

With all these progressive points and initiation, "The Right to Education Act's implementation has remained grossly underfunded. Compared with the Twelfth Plan's estimates, budgetary allocations for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, the vehicle for implementing the RTE, for 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 saw shortfalls of Rs 12,990 crore, Rs 11,287 crore and Rs 10,910 crore, respectively," says Anjela Taneja of Oxfam India, a non-government organization. An education cess was introduced to supplement government funding but in reality the UPA has left the cess to bankroll the RTE. While student enrollment has improved, the quality of education leaves much to be desired. A study, conducted by the RTE Forum, an umbrella organization of civil society groups, shows 63 percent of children in Class III could recognize words and only 21 percent could read a paragraph. In mathematics, it found 26 per cent children in Class III able to subtract and only 7.4 per cent able to divide. 

Eight million children are still out of school (as per data till 2013). 

According to the RTE Act, the deadline for having trained teachers in place is 2015. There are still 660,000 untrained teachers nationwide and 500,000 posts are vacant. One in nine schools has a single teacher, in violation of the Act. 

So out of mentioned challenges and conditions, two major points are: 

1. Education 

2. Teachers and learning impact 

These are the challenges that are expected to dominate the post-2015 agenda. As new challenges are recognized or emerge, the post-2015 policy agenda is expected to broaden its scope beyond poverty reduction and economic growth to include social and political challenges such as tackling environmental degradation, responding to climate change, promoting tolerance, democracy and good governance, and ensuring peace and security. Education, if delivered well, enables people to fulfil their individual potential and to contribute to the economic, political and social transformation of their countries. And future growth, poverty reduction, improvements in health and nutrition, and political and social development depend on education that has quality teachers at its centre – teachers who are capable of delivering a curriculum that provides learning opportunities for all children and youth, irrespective of family background, gender or where they live. 

Education 

Equitable education improves prosperity of individuals, families and societies. The positive effects of education on individual earning capacity and on national growth are widely documented. Education can offer opportunities to all to realize talents, regardless of their background. But when average living conditions improve in a country, many population groups are unable to benefit equally because of their position in society. Education can empower such vulnerable groups, including those disadvantaged due to their gender, wealth, ethnicity or language, and help them share the benefits of positive development outcomes. Education promotes health and nutrition for all. It helps children and young people to acquire knowledge they need to seek appropriate treatment or take other actions that reduce the probability that they or their close family members contract disease or die prematurely. Improved education also indirectly benefits health and nutrition by increasing income. These benefits are particularly strong where education empowers girls and young women to make decisions over their own fertility, including timing of first birth, birth spacing and number of 

children. Education has a lot of influence on emerging environmental, social and political challenges that have not been given sufficient attention. Education, as a purveyor of values, is a key way to promote social cohesion and confer wider social benefits. Quality education promotes tolerance, peace and security, and can support good governance and broader democratic outcomes.

Teachers 

Talking about teachers and their learning impact, countries that have invested and introduced innovations in these areas have contributed to individual well-being, national prosperity and development. Ensuring that the quality of teaching activities and learning environments is equitable is a challenge that all \countries, regardless of their stage of development, have to address. 

In some countries that have increased education access, gaps in learning achievement remain wide. And many countries that still face the challenge of ensuring all children, regardless of their background, are able to complete primary school, are also countries that face some of the biggest challenges in education quality. 

Learning outcomes cannot be improved without investing in teacher quality. First, enough teachers need to be recruited to ensure class sizes are manageable. Second, teachers need training that allows them to teach effectively, paying attention to emerging issues that require attention in the classroom to ensure children’s learning leads to desirable outcomes for themselves and their societies. Third, quality teachers need to be deployed equitably within countries, so that children are not disadvantaged because they live in a remote area or urban slum, for example. Teacher governance reforms are essential to ensure accountability of the teaching force in the promotion of equitable learning outcomes that promote development. 

For teachers to achieve their potential, they need the support of curriculum reforms and assessments that can help them to improve their teaching practice. System-wide reforms are needed that address shortcomings that are contributing to learning deficits. 

But when we are talking about general points or reforms which are required to implement the RTE at grass roots level, we have to check the first phase of the act where following the current status in the country says, “Only one in 12 schools comply with all the RTE norms. The basic requirements like classrooms, toilets, and drinking water and boundary walls are very often not in place.” The right to education is illusory for millions of children from tribal and minority communities and in conflict zones. And at this stage as a responsible citizen of India, when we share our knowledge with children from slums or underprivileged areas, it means a lot! 

For detailed information on RTE, Check: http://righttoeducation.in/

 #KnowledgeIsPower#EducationIsLife#

(Sources: Google.com, Wikipedia.com, Business-standard.com and Righttoeducation.in.)