Right To Education Act In India And It’s Future Implementation

After crossing many barriers, the much talked about Act i.e. “The Right of Children to free and Compulsory Education Act” , was passed by parliament in August last year.

After much discussion and consultation the government has finalized the expenditure sharing between State and Centre in the ratio of 65-35. 65 percent expenditure will be borne by the Centre government and rest will be by the State government for implementing the law making education a fundamental Right.

Sixteen years after the idea was first mooted, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has finally been notified, after receiving the assent of the President of India.

Article 21-A, as inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-Sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, provides for free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right.

Consequently, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, has been enacted by the Parliament.

“This was a matter of national importance for UPA (United Progressive Alliance). This bill is just not about taking children to school. This is a bill that speaks about quality education, it speaks about the physical infrastructure, teacher-pupil ratio, qualification of teachers,” Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said.

The salient features of the Right of Education Bill are:

1: Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the six to 14 age group.

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

3: A child who completes elementary education (upto class 8th) shall be awarded a certificate.

4: Calls for a fixed student-teacher ratio.

5: Will apply to all of India except Jammu and Kashmir.

6: Provides for 25 percent reservation for economically disadvantaged communities in admission to Class One in all private schools.

7: Mandates improvement in quality of education.

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

9: School infrastructure (where there is problem) to be improved in three years, else recognition cancelled.

10: Financial burden will be shared by state and central government.

But in my opinion rigorous efforts should be made to implement this law in rural area where 70 percent of child labors work in agriculture where access of school is severely limited and non availability of trained teacher makes the situation worsen. I feel that, to solve the problem of Trained teacher , the teachers who got the appointment in capital schools, after giving them proper training they should be transferred to their native place, because they will be more friendly and close to these people. These teachers can explain them about the importance of education and mentally prepared their parents to their children to school. I would like to mention one point “ In our Indian society this is the mentality the girls shouldn’t sent to schools there is no need to educate them, as after a particular age they will be married and get settled in life. I want to change this thought as I feel, in a family mother plays a vital role in the upbringing of child. If she is educated she can guide her children in proper way, can manage her home systematically, and if she is financially independent, it will be more helpful economically also.

I want that literacy rate in our country should be hundred percent, we should leave no stone unturned to achieve this target. The major role of education is to create an educated society, it also make an individual to become a more refined member of a society. Education makes man a right thinker and correct decision maker. Illiteracy is a major hindrance to human development. People who are not educated have less opportunity to do what they want to do. So I want that parents should be more concerned about the education of their children, and teacher must be completely devoted to their student education. I am sure if we all will work honestly for the successful implementation of this education Act, then after few years there will be no child found working as a laborer or begging on the roads.

Shantiniketan- The Abode of Learning

“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”
- Rabindranath Tagore

More than 100 years of excellence is no mean achievement. And when the field is education it is also a noble one. ‘Bolpur’, a small town in West Bengal, holds the unique distinction of having this university of excellence, called Visva Bharti University, giving India many luminaries.

It all started with the person who gave two nations, India and Bangladesh their national anthems. The person was the first Indian to become a Noble laureate; the person, whom Mahatma Gandhi gave the title of ‘Gurudev’- Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore.

In 1862, when Maharishi Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath, was taking a boat ride, he came across a landscape of red soil and lush green paddy fields. Rows of palm grove and chhatim trees charmed him. He built a small house there and planted some saplings. Then it was called Bhubandanga, named after a local dacoit called Bhuban Dakat. Debendranath Tagore decided to call this place Shantiniketan after the serenity it brought to his soul. He turned it into a spiritual centre where people from all religions, castes and creed came and participated in meditation. In the year 1863, Debendranath Tagore established an ‘Ashram’ at that place and he himself became the initiator for the Brahmo Samaj.

In the years to come Maharishi Debndranath’s son, Rabindranath went on to become one of the most formidable literary forces this nation had ever produced. However, Tagore was not content with his poetic and literary influence on this nation alone. He seriously wanted to nurture quality education for the people of India. For this noble purpose, he decided to open a school in 1901. He opened a school in Shantiniketan and called it Brahmachary Ashram. He gave an entirely new meaning to the word education. He took education system to the glorious old days of Gurukul system. The aim of this school was to blend the new Western and the traditional Eastern system of education.

In the words of Tagore, “Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.” He believed that children’s minds are extremely sensitive to the influences of the world around them. Their minds are always imbibing some lessons and they actually realize the joy of knowing. He believed that children’s minds are absolutely malleable and so it is easy to infuse them with knowledge so that they can attain greater heights in their life. He believed that children should be surrounded with nature which has an educational value of its own. So he established a school where the students would be free in spite of being in a school.

In his school students were not only imparted the everyday subjects but emphasis was also given on vocational education. It prepared the students for what lay out there in the future outside the realms of the school. Tagore himself had dropped out from school as he felt claustrophobic in the enclosure of four walls. He found his mind getting stuck in them. In that era it was a path breaking step in the arena of education for a country which was slowly getting hitched to the European mode of education in closed classes, where knowledge was only textual and exam oriented.

In the year 1913, Tagore was presented with the Noble Prize for literature for his book of poems ‘Geetanjali’. It not only enhanced India’s position but also upped the prestige of Shantiniketan. After this, in 1921, he converted the little school into a university and called it Visva Bharti- where the world makes a home in a nest is how Tagore chose to define the institution. Whereas the university gives degree courses in humanities, science and the more regular streams of knowledge, it on the other hand hones the latent talents in their students. Its art college, Kala Bhavan, is considered to be one of the best art colleges in the world. Tagore believed that, “In Art, man reveals himself and not his objects.” Although it has adapted to the changing times, the essence and ambience of the University is still maintained as Gurudev wanted it to be. Visva Bharti is a true reflection of our cultural heritage and what wonders education can do to society if taken on the right path.

The greatness and diversity of this University can easily be understood if one looks at the alumni that this institution has produced. If we have on one hand the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, then on the other hand it has given the nation a fiery Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Presumably the greatest film maker India ever produced and got an Academy for his lifelong works, Satyajit Ray was also a product of this institution. Other noted luminaries were Maharani Gayatri Devi, Abdul Ghani Khan. The notable painter Nandalal Bose was the principal of the Kala Bhavan.

Tagore was also very culturally inclined. He started the Basant Utsav and the Pous Utsav. The Pous Utsav is celebrated with the foundation day of the University when the entire campus breaks into a happy atmosphere of songs, tribal dances, baul performances etc. The Basant Utsav is celebrated on the occasion of Holi. The Holi of Shantiniketan is famous world over for its colourful mood and various cultural programmes. Other events like the Sarodotsav, Maghotsav and Brikhsharopan Utsav are also celebrated with pomp and fervour.

It was a stroke of brilliance on part of Gurudev to have come up with a concept of such a fine institution at a time when India was following the traditional bandwagon of education. In Shantiniketan, Gurudev not only gave the country some of the best talents, but he himself also revelled in their success. It is here that he produced some of his best literary works. Rabindranath Tagore dreamt of a unique system of education. He was a visionary who had the will power to translate them to reality. The University of Visva Bharati is a proof of it. Even in the 21st century, Shantiniketan has retained the sanctity of an ashram while being very much a part of the contemporary world.

He said once, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

A school that children call “theirs”

Padmini and Ram Mani show how socially and economically disadvantaged children discover the magic of education in their vibrant school free of cost

When I walked into the little red brick building called “My School Satya Surabhi (MYSS)”, it looked like a summer camp, set among lush green trees and buzzing with activity. The school was awash with cheer and laughter. Smiling children in bright red uniforms played energetically, practised yoga, sang songs and attended their classes. Vivid art and posters hung along the walls. In the midst of the cacophony of a school, there was a silent discipline and order too.

A shy but confident class VII boy welcomed me to his school and village, and presented me a sapling explaining its special features. “He is an electrician's son,” someone whispered.

Padmini Mani, greying and elegant, emerged with folded hands. Her entrance ushered in a flutter of activities and loving ebullience. The smaller ones hugged her and clung to her and a few dragged her to a cardboard train to sing with them.

When her friend Mark Antrobus fixed up the interview, he had said I would not find a scrap of litter in the school campus. “Neither will you find another school of this kind in the region which has opened its doors only to the children of the toiling and ignored from surrounding villages.”

Unassuming

I knew I was here in Attuvampatti Village, seven km outside Kodailkanal, to interview Padmini and her husband Ram much against their wishes. They wanted only the school to be featured, not them, so that others would be inspired to start similar schools elsewhere.

“We have a wonderful atmosphere here. We take pride in our school and its environment. All children are encouraged to keep the school grounds clean and litter free,” says Padmini, having steered the school through a period of growth in the last decade.

Sitting on two acres of greenery and cooled by the breezes of Palani Hills, MYSS maintains a low profile. There are 102 students enrolled at present, from nursery to Class VIII. The school started 12 years ago in a temporary shed with 20 children of farm workers, petty vendors, daily wagers and migrant labourers. Today, it has come to be the envy of even schools for the well-to-do.

When Ram, a management professional, first came to Kodaikanal in 1993, he fell in love with the verdure. Padmini, then heading the Department of Foreign Languages in The British School at Delhi, came to the town as vice principal of Kodaikanal Christian College. Six years later, the couple's vision for “equality and education, and the right of every child to call a place ‘my school” took shape.

“During a casual conversation, a milkman told us the village needed a school,” says Padmini. “This appeal coupled with the influence of my parents, who taught us service without reward, propelled us into action.”

Starting the school, she admits, was easier than running it.

They put out pamphlets highlighting the school's core values and got 40 applications, but in the first year they could take in only 20 children given the space and availability of teachers. Now, the school's links with the local community stretch beyond Attuvampatti to neighbouring Pallangi and Vilpatti.

The couple asserts their school is “not a commercial venture”. They consider it a secular non-profit educational institution. They charge only one time admission fee of Rs.25, and work to provide quality education, books, class materials, uniforms, noon meals, and extra-curricular activities absolutely free of cost.

A dynamo of energy and ideas, Padmini puts enthusiasm into her students and teachers: “I keep communicating with them and run a continual training programme that ratchets them up.”

Ram is heartened with the many successes of students who integrated into other mainstream schools after class VIII. “When children spend years here playing, learning and relating, they have had a great childhood,” he says. “Examinations become secondary. Our kids are self-assured with a positive outlook.”

Padmini adds that most of the students are doing well either academically or in sports and other fields. “The values we teach them here, they carry through their lives and are equipped to face challenges. Our teachers together ensure that the children gain maximum academic and social benefits from their time at the school, where they develop long-lasting friendships.”

While the students are challenged academically through a range of projects and classwork, sports is also a big part of school life. Chess, yoga and athletics champions have already emerged from the school. The teachers emphasize language and learning through song, dance and drama, and they follow a philosophy of “thematic teaching”, where there is a connectivity between subjects.

This couple, silently trying to change the face of India in one remote corner of the country, are delighted at the decision they made 18 years ago. “We have to build up the institution, individuals do not matter. For us, it is like culmination of life experience here by making an impact,” says Padmini.

But for her and Ram, these children would never have got a chance. Indeed, it has become a different world out here.

Salient features

MYSS was declared one of the top 100 schools in India in a national contest called Design for Change last September. The students helped clean and beautify the Vilpatti bus stand and the nearby rural settlement Kota Teru. The school also bagged a special prize in the INTACH Heritage Club competition 2010 and the Bisnoi Trophy for environmental awareness and preservation 2010.

Up to primary level, MYSS is recognized by the Tamil Nadu State Education Department. For middle school, it is under the Open Basic Education Programme of the National Institute of Open Schools, Union Ministry of Human Resources Development.

Raison d'etre of MYSS is value acquisition. Emphasis is on life values like basic hygiene, civic sense, environmental sensitivity, honesty and on becoming a good and responsible citizen.

MYSS is run by the Satya Surabhi Trust. Among the six trustees are Padmini's elder sister Mohini Giri (founder chairperson of National Women's Commission and daughter-in-law of former President V.V. Giri) and Kathak exponent and author Jigyasa Giri.

P&G's Shiksha building 20+ schools across India

In India, nearly one out of two children does not go to school and 47 per cent of India’s habitation does not even HAVE a primary school.

We all hear alarming facts like these often and feel the urge to contribute within our means. P&G's signature CSR Program 'Shiksha' understands this national concern, and gives consumers a simple yet powerful way to participate in building India’s educational future.

Every time a consumer buys P&G products such as Tide, Ariel, Pampers, Whisper, Olay, Vicks, Gillette Oral-B, Head & Shoulders, Pantene and Duracell in the month of April, May & June, Shiksha contributes a portion of the proceeds towards children’s education.

Now in its 7th year, Shiksha is back with an even stronger commitment - to take its current impact of 150,0001 children to the 200,000 mark.

In 2010, Shiksha began building over 20 schools all across India, supported 100+ existing schools and aims to build at-least 20 more in the coming year.

This year, Bollywood megastar Rani Mukherji came on-board to extend her selfless support to Shiksha, encouraging consumers to help Shiksha lead more and more on the path to education.

Rani was delighted to hear that Shiksha is also building a school in her home state West Bengal and helped build a model for a play-school that will be presented to the children at Begampur High School.

At the Shiksha launch event Rani said “It’s truly commendable that with your support, Shiksha has been able to impact 150,000 children and begun building 20 schools across India. I am proud to be associated with Shiksha and felt very happy to be creating this playschool that will be built for the children at Begampur High School, West Bengal. I urge you to remember that the next time you walk into a store to shop for something basic like a shampoo, a toothbrush or a detergent - you can help educate a lesser-privileged child by making a simple brand choice.”

Present at the launch, Sharat Verma, Marketing Manager, P&G India said, ‘‘Shiksha is not just an initiative, but a passion that we as an organization strongly believe in. After touching the lives of 150,000 children, we are now helping build the future of India’s children “Brick by Brick” by building 20 schools this year and an aim to build another 20 in the coming year and take Shiksha’s impact to 200,000 children. After all, “Padhega India, tabhi toh Badhega India”

Shiksha has been successful in impacting 150,000 children thus far, in association with leading NGOs - Round Table India (RTI), Child Rights & You (CRY), Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA), Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) amongst others. NGO Round Table India is spearheading the identification, establishment, completion and maintenance of RTI Shiksha School projects in the country as a joint partner bringing onboard expertise in building schools as well as contribution towards funds.

P&G brands Tide, Ariel, Pampers, Whisper, Olay, Vicks, Gillette Oral-B, Head & Shoulders, Pantene and Duracell, contribute to Shiksha in the months of April, May and June. Shiksha channelizes a part of the proceeds from these sales towards educating underprivileged children. Irrespective of sales, P&G will commit a minimum of Rs 1 crore towards the donation funds of Shiksha every year. With a motto of ‘Padhega India, Badhega India’ - Shiksha believes that the secret to a brighter India lies in the quality education of our children.

Shiksha is an integral part of P&G's global philanthropy program - Live, Learn & Thrive - focused on the development of children in need across the globe, currently reaching over 50 million children. Launched in 2004, Shiksha has grown immensely and is today a National Consumer Movement with strong support from consumers. This year, P&G, through Shiksha will build more than 20 schools across the nation to give more children the invaluable gift of education with a focus to build more schools in the years to come.

Education Today: Now, you can take a loan to pay school fee

(Source: Economic Times) It's very likely that the fee your parents paid to educate you from kindergarten till graduation is less than the annual fee that you pay for your child's playschool today. In a metro city, a playschool can make you poorer by Rs 35,000-1 lakh a year, while primary and secondary education in a private school can cost between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh a year.

Paying such high fees could be a problem if you face a financial crisis, but there's no way you can remove your child from school, can you? Now, you can resolve this dilemma by simply stepping into a bank. Yes, banks have started offering education loans for children's school fees, a phenomenon that took off about a year ago.

Loan criteria

Earlier, education loans were offered only for professional courses. Now, you can take them to pay the school fee for classes ranging from nursery to senior secondary. The banks that offer this facility include public sector entities, such as Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad and J&K Bank. The loan amount usually varies from Rs 30,000-1 lakh, but the Bank of Baroda has an upper limit of Rs 4 lakh. Though you don't need an account with these banks to avail of the facility, accountholders are given preference. As a senior official from the Central Bank of India affirms, "We will give a loan to a customer even if he does not have an account with us, but serving an existing customer will be our first priority." Another condition is that the school should be affiliated to ICSE, CBSE or any state education board.

The loan is primarily meant to fund the tuition fee, but it can also be used to pay for other expenses, such as buying a laptop or any apparatus that may be required for projects. However, in such a case, the equipment will remain in the bank's name as security till the total amount is paid.

Cost of loan

Another option to tide over the difficult period is taking a personal loan , but this comes with a high rate of interest, which ranges from 14-19% and can go up to 24% in certain situations. On the other hand, an education loan is available at 12-13%. Despite the fact that both are unsecured loans, the one for education is cheaper. If you are taking a loan to finance your daughter's education, you will be able to get an additional concession of 0.5-1% on the existing rate.

"Generally, education loans are based on the parents'/guardian's income level and their capability to repay. The interest rates also depend on the income as well as the credit profile of the borrower. You could also get a concession if you provide a security or a collateral," says Adhil Shetty, CEO of BankBazaar.com, a financial services company.

Funding for coaching

Coaching classes, which help students prepare for various entrance exams, have become a vital part of the education system. Ranjana Sharma, who scored 95% in her higher secondary, aspires to become a doctor, but her father cannot pay the hefty fee demanded by the coaching institute. He can now approach the banks as they provide loans for coaching taken for professional courses. So, students appearing for entrance exams for civil services, medicine, chartered accountancy, engineering, etc, can opt for this loan.

Indian Teachers in Demand in Singapore Schools

(Source: Economic Times) Indian teachers are most sought after in Singapore schools with increasing number of teachers being recruited to teach not only Indian languages but also other subjects. Over 70 teachers from India have been hired in the past four years and another 10 teachers from the country are set to teach in the city schools later this year as the Education Ministry seeks out international educationists to boost its teaching force, The Straits Times reported today. "It's logical to hire from India because they are culturally much closer to us," Singapore's Academy of Principals dean Belinda Charles was quoted as saying by the daily. Kolkata-based 'Academy for Professional Excellence', a recruitment agency for Singapore's Education Ministry since 2006, had recruited eight teachers in 2007 and the number increased to 30 in 2009 and 25 last year. Most of the teachers were from Kolkata. The paper, citing the Education Ministry, said the numbers of international teachers still remain small, under 2 per cent or less than 620 of the 31,000-strong teaching force in Singapore. The Ministry said it has been looking for teachers overseas for 20 years to "inject diversity and perspective" into the education system here. Singapore is facing shortage of teachers, particularly of economics as local teachers specialising in the subject left for lucrative jobs in the commercial sector during the economic boom four years ago.

Computer for students @ $35. Is it really possible?

"India unveils $35 computer for students," says CNN.com. "India unveils prototype for $35 touch-screen computer," reports BBC News. "India to provide $35 computing device to students," says BusinessWeek.

Wow! That's great! Too bad it will never exist. That this announcement is reported straight and without even a hint of skepticism is incomprehensible to me.

India's human resource ministry announced this week a "breakthrough" solar-powered tablet computer that would cost only US$35 in "early 2011." Reports say the tablet was developed at various Indian universities. "We have made the breakthrough and are now ready to capture the market," said Mamta Varma, a spokeswoman for the human-resource-development ministry.

In the first phase of the rollout, a million tablets would be provided to university students. In later phases, the program would be expanded to primary and secondary students. Millions of students would be using these cheap tablets within a year.

Officials even hinted that in the future the price could drop to $10 per tablet.

The project appears to target a similar demographic and purpose as the "One Laptop per Child program, which is still struggling to bring the cost of its non-solar, non-touch screen computer down to its goal of $100.

What's really going on?

Because the mainstream media is too gullible, shameless and lazy to report this story with even the slightest hint of skepticism, let me spell out what is almost certainly going on here.

Indian politicians have discovered that announcing technological "breakthroughs" that leverage Indian engineering prowess to deliver computers to everybody helps get press and win votes. It's a cheap gimmick that works because of the gullibility of the media.

While the press pays attention to the Big Announcement, hardly any media outlets notices later when nothing ever comes of it. Why? Because a headline with "$35 tablet" in it brings traffic, eyeballs and readers, whereas a headline with "media duped again" brings only shame. So they go for the glory, but omit the shame.

For example: In February of last year, the Indian government announced a $10 to $20 laptop called the "Shaksat. Like the $35 tablet, the Shaksat had 2GB of RAM, but details on other components were impossible to come by.

It was to be rolled out in 6 months, and was to be used by millions of students across India, transforming the Indian educational system and economy. So where is the Shaksat?

In 1999, a group of Indian scientists and engineers developed a low-cost computer for the poor called the "Simputer. It was a Linux-basedpen-and-touch tablet with text-to-speech capability. The Simputer was announced with great fanfare by the Indian government. The goal was to sell 50,000, but only 4,000 were ever sold.

Are you detecting a formula here? Pandering politicians hold up a prototype and proclaim a "breakthrough." A new computer, developed by students and professors at India's prestigious engineering universities, has "cracked the code" for low-cost computing for the masses.

Very soon these devices will be pushed out to Indian students, transforming the educational levels of the country and providing the tools for Indian technological leadership in the future.

Everybody wants to believe this story. But that doesn't make it true.

Why the $35 Indian tablet will never exist?

India itself doesn't build touch screens. They would have to be imported from China or Taiwan. The current price for this component alone exceeds $35. Like touch-screens, most solar panels are also built in China. But even the cheapest ones powerful enough to charge a tablet battery are more expensive to manufacture than $35.

Plus you need to pay for the 2GB of RAM, the case, and the rest of the computer electronics. Even if you factor in Moore's Law, and assume the absolute cheapest rock-bottom junk components, a solar touch-tablet with 2GB of RAM cannot be built anytime soon for less than $100.

More to the point, no country in the world can build a cheaper computer than China can. The entire tech sector in China is optimized for ultra low-cost manufacturing. All the engineering brilliance in India can't change that.

Even if Moore's Law unexpectedly accelerated, and India was miraculously able to build a $35 tablet next year, there would be 100 Chinese companies selling tablets for $20 and the Indian initiative would be pointless anyway.

This is largely what happened with the Simputer. By the time the consortium managed to get the device through the manufacturing process, the open market was producing devices that were far cheaper and better.

So in addition to this latest engineering "breakthrough" announced by the Indian government, they would also have to make a breakthrough in the ability of governments to produce cheaper computers than the open market, an event that has never before occurred -- and probably never will.

The awful truth?

The $35 tablet announcement was nothing more than shameless political opportunism. The world's media were suckered (again) -- hook, line and sinker.

The whole affair is a shameful, disgusting spectacle that represents everything that's wrong with politics, the media, and public gullibility in the new idiocracy.

Cheap computers are nice. But what we really need is a little common sense.