Introduction
Elementary education in India is a fundamental right. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Movement) is a flagship program of the Government of India, initiated in 2000-01 to universalize elementary education. Interventions under the program aimed at increasing the number of schools, ensuring that schools have drinking water and toilets, providing training to teachers and improving learning outcomes. Under the SSA, special focus on providing access to education to disadvantaged groups, minorities and girls who are often left behind was also emphasized. On 01 April 2010, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act in India initiated a rights based framework where every child between the age of six and fourteen years has the fundamental right to education. The RTE is a landmark legal provision in the Indian education system.
The Right to Education Act:
Mandates the right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighborhood school
Clarifies that ‘compulsory education’ means obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group. ‘Free’ means that 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 elementary education.
Makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.
Specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authority and parents in providing free and compulsory education, and sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments
Lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days and teacher working hours.
Provides for rational deployment of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil teacher ratio is maintained for each school, rather than just as an average for the State or District or Block, thus ensuring that there is no urban-rural imbalance in teacher postings. It also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non educational work, other than decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief.
Provides for appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications
Prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental harassment (b) screening procedures for admission of children (c) capitation fee (d) private tuition by teachers and (e) running of schools without recognition.
Provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, and which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centered learning.
ACCESS TO EDUCATION WITH EQUITY
In education, the term access typically refers to the ways in which
educational institutions and policies ensure—or at least strive to ensure—that students have equal and equitable opportunities to take full advantage of their education. Increasing access generally requires schools to provide additional services or remove any actual or potential barriers that might prevent some students from equitable participation in certain courses or academic programs. Factors such as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, perceived intellectual ability, past academic performance, special-education status, English-language ability, and family income or educational-attainment levels—in addition to factors such as relative community affluence, geographical location, or school facilities—may contribute to certain students having less “access” to educational opportunities than other students
An estimated 8.1 million children between 6-13 years are out of school in India, and millions more do not attend school regularly.
Of these, 4.1 million are boys an 4.11 million are girls
A significant proportion belongs to disadvantaged groups including 5.9 per cent to Scheduled Castes, 5.6 per cent to Scheduled Tribes and 2.6 per cent to Other Backward Classes
An estimated 4.5 per cent are from rural areas and 3.1 per cent from urban areas
Nearly 34 per cent of children with disabilities are out of school.
The dropout rate is even higher for children from Scheduled Castes at 43 per cent and Scheduled Tribes at 55 per cent. The number of schools in India that have separate toilet facility for girls has increased from 0.4 million (37 per cent) in 2005-06 to 1.24 million (88 per cent) in 2012-13. About 89 million girls in school now have access to toilets but seven million girls still lack access. There is an urgent need to provide access with a focus on equity, with special measures to bring in girls, children from disadvantaged groups and those with disabilities into schools.
QUALITY BASIC EDUCATION
Every girl and boy in India has the fundamental right to enjoy eight years of quality education, one that helps them acquire basic literacy and numeracy, enjoy learning without fear, and feel valued and included irrespective of where they come from. However, the quality of education remains one of the biggest challenges
There is a need to shift from the Right to Education to the Right to Learn: children learn the basics of literacy and numeracy; schools are child friendly for conducive learning, and there are adequate teachers with professional qualifications for teaching.
Learning the basics:
An estimated 47 per cent of Class V students can read Class II text. National Achievement Surveys5 show that the overall national average scores is 257 (on a scale of 0 to 500) for learning levels in language and 252 (on a scale of 0 to 500) for learning levels in mathematics. This means that many children in school are not learning the basics of literacy and numeracy
Child Friendly Schools and systems:
The RTE Act makes child friendly quality education the fundamental right of every child. A child-friendly school (CFS) ensures every child an environment that is physically safe, emotionally secure and psychologically enabling. A child friendly school with improved quality of education results in children staying in schools and thus accelerated realization of the RTE. The National guiding principles for CFS have been developed and need to be rolled out in the states.
Pupil Teacher ratio:
The RTE Act maintains that Pupil - Teacher ratio should be one teacher for every 30 students at the primary level and one teacher for every 35 children at the upper primary level. Forty one per cent schools at the primary level and 31 per cent schools at upper primary level meet the norm.
Teacher Training:
There are close to 7.7 million teachers in elementary schools in India, out of which nearly 60 per cent, i.e. 4.6 million are in government schools. However, about 20 per cent of government teachers lack adequate professional qualifications, and many more lack the required skills, knowledge and attitudes to ensure effective learning. There are close to 7.7 million teachers in elementary schools in India, out of which nearly 60 per cent, i.e. 4.6 million are in government schools . However, about 20 per cent of government teachers lack adequate professional qualifications, and many more lack the required skills, knowledge and attitudes to ensure effective learning
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