Open Forum
New Delhi, 1 May 2013
Three
Years of RTE
REPORT CARD NOT UPTO MARK
By
Dhurjati Mukherjee
Notwithstanding that last month
marked the third anniversary of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, there is
little to suggest that the implementation has been less than satisfactory.
Enforcement of various norms like infrastructure, pupil-teacher ratio, etc have
been poor while 25 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections in
private schools and forming of school management committees are yet to be put
into operation effectively.
Meanwhile, recently the Supreme
Court referred to a larger bench a writ petition of the Federation of
Public Schools, challenging the constitutional validity of the RTE for
reserving 25 per cent seats for the poor in private schools when these were not
getting any form of aid from the Government. It may be mentioned here that a
three-judge bench of the apex court had upheld the validity of the Act last
year.
The RTE Act maintained that by March
2013 all schools had to provide a set of basic facilities to all schools. There
should be one teacher for every 30 children in Classes I to IV and one teacher
for 35 children in Classes VI to VIII. After examination of the six facilities
mandated in the Act, it was found that by 2012 only eight per cent of all
elementary schools had provided the required facilities.
In all the eastern and North Eastern
States, including the large ones such as Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal
and Assam, only two per cent of all elementary schools in the region had the
mandated facilities and stipulated teacher-pupil ratio. It is thus quite
obvious that student learning levels have remained disturbingly low as
highlighted in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), and in fact fallen
in the last few years.
Perhaps, the provision of
infrastructure occupied centre stage in the past three years in Government
planning in matters related to RTE and though this is, no doubt, necessary, the
resultant effect in learning outcomes has sadly not been witnessed. One
cannot deny the fact that the infrastructure has been abysmally poor in the
rural schools and intervention in a big way was long overdue to make available
better provisions such as more airy rooms, toilets with water connections and
potable drinking water. However, it is also necessary to focus on the learning
methodology to equip the students better like their urban counterparts.
The need for development is indeed
enormous but the lack of adequate funds has been a big impediment. In 2011-12,
for example, the expenditure on Sarva Shiksha Abhijan (SSA) was as low as 61
per cent and in the last fiscal it may be anything around 65 to 68 per cent. It
has been pointed out by experts that for an outcome-oriented education system,
there is need for curriculum reform, pedagogical strategy and better
interaction between teachers and students.
Good communication skills is a vital
element of teaching, specially for children and this essential element is
necessary to be a good teacher. Moreover, teachers have to show love and
affection to the children of lower classes and win them over to make teaching
effective.
Basically, the sincerity of teachers
and their willingness to improve the system through dedication has been found
lacking in various surveys of Government schools. There is need for teacher
performance monitoring mechanisms, specially in district schools, to ensure
that the earning process is yielding results. But clearly, the impetus has to
come from the teachers themselves for which social awareness and motivation
needs to be generated. This apart, some sort of autonomy is also needed for
these schools.
Indeed, the School Management
Committees (SMCs) need such autonomy to carry out realistic plans of
improvement. Presently these have limited expenditure powers – on an average
SMCs receive Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 annually – which is undoubtedly meagre in
today’s times and need to be enhanced. Also these committees have no powers
over education-related functions such as temporary teacher hiring and
retention.
Importantly, this brings us to the
question of insufficiency of teachers as there are many States where around 70
to 75 per cent schools do not have the requisite numbers. This perhaps has got
to the non-availability of requisite funds to recruit so many teachers and the
States would desist from taking on the additional financial burden. As a
result, teachers are being recruited on contract in many States. This may not
have an adverse impact on the quality of teaching, only if the SMCs are given
the powers to recruit them. These contract teachers, who are mostly local
recruits, have in most cases been found to reach the mark.
At the same time, according to
reports, there is a growing tendency amongst parents to send their children to
low-cost private schools and, such enrolment in rural India has been
rising at a rate of three per cent per annum. The quality of teaching and
the resultant impact on the learner, which is very important at the elementary
schools, is being carried out appreciably by these private schools, probably
because of strict monitoring.
With private schools helping fill
the gap in education requirement, some way needs to be found to halt their
de-recognition simply because they don’t adhere to the 25 per cent quota
demand. The Government could consider providing some monetary benefits for the
25 per cent reserved seats in private schools for the poor. These schools are
very much a part of the system and some way has to be evolved to ensure that
they follow the stipulations of the RTE. Meanwhile, it is pertinent to mention
that Gujarat has developed an alternative
model for recognizing private schools based on learning-related performance.
Many States are expected to follow suit.
Finally, it needs to be pointed out
that though education as a whole has seen positive outcomes – though not up to
expectations – elementary education needs to be strengthened. Experts have
repeatedly emphasized the need for more resources for the education sector,
which unfortunately the present Government has not heeded. However, for the
much-needed change, apart from more funds flow and autonomy at the grass-root
level, sincerity and dedication of teachers is the key element for the desired
transformation. The school system should be geared to bring about this
transformation in learning outcomes in the coming years. Contribution of all
stakeholders is needed to make this a reality. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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