Rights of children to free compulsory education under RTE

Education is one of the most important instruments to survive in this 21^st century. If we look the past at pre- independence of country's era underwent severe ordeals and took a very long time to get over hardships. At the end of the British rule in 1947, India upheld 47% literacy rate that has grown to 74.04% as per the 2011 census is a huge achievement since independence in domain of education.

Today, the literacy rate in India has improved a lot as Tripura stood with the highest literacy rate of 94.65% but according to 2011 census Kerala was conceived the only state ranked 1^st with 93.91% rate in an education domain. On the other hand, Bihar still remained at the lowest in rate of literature.

Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014 survey informed the different tale of current education status of the country, the children in government schools perform worse than in private schools.

In each rural district, 30 villages are sampled. In each village, 20 randomly selected households are surveyed. This process generates a total of 600 households per district, or about 3, 00,000 households for the country as a whole. Approximately 7, 00,000 children in the age group 3-16 who are residents in these households are surveyed.

Characteristics of Article 21a:

The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.

Courtesy: mhrd.gov.in

Key Features Of Right To Education (RTE):

·         Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the 6 to 14 age group.

·    No child shall be held back, expelled or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education.

·    If a child above 6 years of age has not been admitted in any school or could not complete his or her elementary education, then he or she shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his or her age. However, if a case may be where a child is directly admitted in the class appropriate to his or her age, then, in order to be at par with others, he or she shall have a right to receive special training 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 the completion of elementary education even after 14 years.

·    Proof of age for admission: For the purpose 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 Birth. 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.

·    Call need to be taken for a fixed student–teacher ratio.

·    Twenty-five per cent reservation for economically disadvantaged communities in admission to Class I in all private schools is to be done.

·    Improvement in the quality of education is important.

·    School teachers will need adequate professional degree within five years or else will lose job.

·   School infrastructure (where there is a problem) need to be improved in every 3 years, else recognition will be cancelled.

·    Financial burden will be shared between the state and the central government.

RTE Major Challenges

• An estimated 8.1 million children are out of school, majority of those belonging to the disadvantaged groups.
• Dropout rates are high. Despite achieving close to universal enrolment at primary level, 27% children drop out between Class 1 and 5, 41% before reaching Class 8, and 49% before reaching Class 10. The figures are higher for children from Scheduled Castes (27%, 43%, and 56% respectively) and Scheduled Tribes (36%, 55%, and 71%).
• Wide gender disparities exist in education. For every 100 boys enrolled in secondary education, there are 81 girls enrolled.
• Less than half (47%) of Class 5 students can read Class 2 text 5. Children’s attendance rate in rural primary schools has shown a decline from 73% in 2007 to 71%6 in 2012.
• As per RTE norms, there should be one teacher for every thirty students at primary level and one teacher for every thirty-five students at upper primary level. However, 41% of primary schools have a pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of more than 30 and 31% of upper primary schools have a PTR more than 35. About 80% of regular teachers and 72% of contractual teachers are professionally qualified.
• Of the 1.3 million schools across India, only 72% of elementary schools have a separate girls’ toilet, while only 85% of these toilets are functional.
• Significant challenges still remain to keep schools safe considering rising civil unrest and the wide prevalence of corporal punishment across the country.