This is the second part of the three-part series on ‘the right to education of children living in the slums of Indore‘ as a part of the Justicemakers’ Writer’s Training Program, run in partnership with Agami and Ashoka’s Law For All Initiative. The first and final parts can be found here and here.
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Belonging to the legal field, my personal experience is that when I learn or read about a law, I automatically become curious to find out more about related laws and policies. In this piece, I want to focus on the laws and policies to do with education and the rights of children to attain knowledge.
In the 86th amendment to the Indian constitution (2002), Article 21-A was inserted in it so as to treat the free and compulsory education of all children as a fundamental right.
The Right to Education (RTE) Act (2009) can be seen as the most important educational law in India. Our country became one of the 135 countries in the world, to make elementary education a fundamental right of every child. The Act came into force in 2010 and it enables every child between the age of six to 14 to access schooling.
In all Indian states, including Madhya Pradesh, the Act is taken into accordance in almost every government school. Looking at the situation in Indore, I can confirm that all the schools and anganwadis have the basic necessities required.
The National Educational Policies
When it comes to international laws, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines child rights as the minimum entitlements and freedoms that should be afforded to every person below the age of 18, regardless of their race, national origin, caste, color, gender, language, religion, opinions, wealth, disability, or any other characteristic.
Coming back to the policies prevailing in India, the National Policy on Education (NPE) was a policy formulated by the Indian government to promote and regulate education in India. This policy covers elementary to higher education in rural and urban India.
The NPE’s history is that the first one was promulgated by former prime minister (PM) Indira Gandhi in 1968, the second one by PM Rajiv Gandhi in 1986, and the third one (NEP) by PM Narendra Modi in 2020. The reforms listed in NEP (2020) are aimed at bringing Indian educational standards at par with global ones.
For instance, it aims to bring in a multi-disciplinary framework in higher educational institutes. How far will the NEP (2020) be successful in its mission, is something we have to wait and watch.
Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan And More
According to government data, due to the implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (programme for universal elementary education), the total enrolment in elementary schools rose from 18.79 crore children in 2009-10 to 19.67 crore children in 2015-16.
Next in the line is the Saakshar Bharat Yojana. Here, the word saakshar means literate. This scheme was launched for the non-literate and neo-literate children aged 15 and above. It is a centrally-sponsored scheme for adult education and skill development.
The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) was launched in 2009 to improve the quality of secondary education. In English, it stands for the National Mission for Secondary Education. The implementation of the scheme was started in the year 2010.
This scheme includes multidimensional research, technical consulting and funding support. The main objective is to enhance the quality of secondary education, and increase the total enrollment rate from 52% in 2005–2006 to 75% in five years (from 2009–2014). It was more or less successful in achieving this target, according to World Bank data.
The RUSA And Under Utilisation Of Funds
The Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) was launched (2013) to improve higher education. It is the Hindi translation for “National Higher Education Mission”. This scheme aims at providing strategic funding to higher education institutions throughout the country.
It is to be noted that the government’s responses to a bunch of questions asked in the Parliament, to do with higher education, have revealed that a large portion of funds meant for the sector goes unused.
In a response to Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Jawhar Sircar’s question, the Ministry of Education disclosed that in 2020-21, out of the ₹300 crore allotted for RUSA, only ₹165 crore was spent. In 2019-20, ₹2,100 crore was allotted and ₹1,277 crore was spent. In 2021-22, ₹3,000 crore was allotted at first and then the figure was revised to ₹793.26 crore.
Coming back to Madhya Pradesh, the state budget for 2022 for education is ₹32,843 crore. The state government aims to set up new schools, maintain existing ones, offer free reading materials etc.
In a novel initiative: 12th standard, adivasi students who want to become doctors, will be mentored for the NEET by MBBS students studying in the Shahdol Medical College. Not only will this improve their standard of education (as many of them are first-generation learners), it will also encourage them to use education for the upliftment of themselves and their community at large.
So, while we have a solid law and policies in place, their effective implementation makes all the difference in the world.
The Importance Of Education
I would like to end this piece on a personal note. When I was a kid, like every other kid, I was annoyed with exams being conducted so often. I had no time to play, and everybody used to tell me to just keep studying all the time so that I could score well.
One fine day, I got annoyed and told my grandfather that I don’t want to study anymore. My grandfather narrated a story to me to teach me the importance of education. He said that during the British rule, the literacy rate in our country was so low that the people weren’t even aware of what their basic human rights were.
Because of the lack of education, we were easily enslaved by the Britishers for over 200 years. They mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted our ancestors. Maybe, all of it could have been avoided if every Indian had access to knowledge. As we all know, education expands the mind.
So, in order to understand how: the world works, our country runs, a business venture is established, or to assert one’s basic human rights, education is essential. Only when we can communicate with each other, freely, and read as well as learn about the mistakes our ancestors made, can we prevent history from repeating itself!