India: Parliament Passes Right to Education Bill

India: Parliament Passes Right to Education Bill
Reality views by sm:

The law which should have been passed immediate after the Indian independence
Was passed in the year 2009. Article 45 of the Constitution “seeks to provide free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14” under the directive principals.
16 years back the Supreme Court ruled that elementary education should be made a fundamental right
It’s good that this failure is corrected now by the government of Man Mohan Singh.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on July 20 .The lower house passed the bill by a voice vote.

Few important provisions of this bill are as follows.



1. 25% reservation in private schools for disadvantaged children from the neighborhood, at the entry level. The government will reimburse expenditure incurred by schools.
2. Running a school without recognition will attract penal action.
3. The Bill also prohibits physical punishment, expulsion or detention of a child
4. The bill also prohibits deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes other than census or election duty and disaster relief.
5. free and compulsory education for all children in the 6-14 age-group
6. The states have been given the liberty to decide the disadvantaged classes whose children would be eligible under the 25 percent reservation category, specified by the government as those from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and educationally or economically backward classes.
7. This legislation provides for the inclusion of children who are disadvantage because of disability. The upper age limit for such children would be 18 instead of 16 for others.

Now President will sign the bill, which is just a formality and it will become a law.
It will be known as ‘The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009

Like other bills and laws we hope that this bill will not go into the dustbin or without implementation by state and central government. This law requires the team work of central and state government.
We all know that there is a law regarding child marriage, a law regarding child labor, law regarding dowry but still we find everyday these laws are violated and celebrated by Indian society.

Because of this bill there will be lot of demand for teachers and we will see corruption scandals in every state.
Today if we will see the condition of our Government schools I doubt that this law will be effective but still it’s good that at last the law is passed and slowly India started to move in right direction. From 1960 they are trying to pass this bill but in vain. So to pass this bill we have wasted more than 50 years to just pass the right to education bill.

This bill do not have provision to punish parents who do not send there kids to the schools.
Now this gives excuse to government to say we are trying but parents are not sending kids to school.
2nd problem is that the bill does not make compulsory for the kids of Member of Parliament to study in the Government school.
This is the only way our government school will get good facilities and good teachers.
The bill should have included the extra taxation on the people whose salaries are more than 1 lakh rupees per month like this provision.
The bill has other major problem regarding aid , as private schools will be given money by government to implement 25% reservation, the problem is that the bill does not say clearly who will pay the money central or state government , and in this fight Private schools will get excuse not to implement this rule in there schools.
The Bill doesn’t clearly state if the Union or state governments would reimburse the fees.

Is this historical moment or we need to think that what kind of Indians we are that we need so many years to think and act to decide this should be a fundamental right of every kid. I feel we need to fix this problem why we are so slow in regard of reforming India.

"Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it."
Boredom will always remain the greatest enemy of school disciplines. If we remember that children are bored, not only when they don't happen to be interested in the subject or when the teacher doesn't make it interesting, but also when certain working conditions are out of focus with their basic needs, then we can realize what a great contributor to discipline problems boredom really is. Research has shown that boredom is closely related to frustration and that the effect of too much frustration is invariably irritability, withdrawal, rebellious opposition or aggressive rejection of the whole show.

John Dewey:
I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. All reforms which rest simply upon the law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements, are transitory and futile.... But through education society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself with definiteness and economy in the direction in which it wishes to move.... Education thus conceived marks the most perfect and intimate union of science and art conceivable in human experience.
My Pedagogic Creed, 1897

Our friend Pramod has raised few questions about this law and he does not agree with this law. This is reason i am updating this post with the answers to his questions which he has asked.
First Read what Pramod has commented :
I totally disagree about this law being good for the nation. Look at some of the provisions from a practical side with reference to private unaided schools - all the good schools in the country fall within this catagory. You want 25% free seats for poor - a good aim no doubt. Ok, the schools admits 25% without any fees. How will these kids stand upto the remaining population in the school who will naturally come from a richer background ? What about the books, dresses and other things that cost moon today ? Who is going to pay for those ? You say don't detain any kid in any class upto class VIII - ok. Now many of these free kids dont have books and other teaching aids - what do they have to show when they come out of class VIII - are they really educated ? You want 75% of the managing committee seats to be reserved for parents and political appointees - what private person will invest crores in setting up a really good place and then hand it over to unknown people who may not know a thing about what they are supposed to do it. Note it, private initiative in primary education is doomed if this law is enforced in present form. I for one, have already postponed my plans to set up a world class school.

Answer to this comment :
“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”
This law is good for the India, problem with this law is that this law was not made in the 1950 which was the first duty of government of India
1. Yes Pramod I agree with you that all the good schools are unaided.
But do you know who gives them free land, do you know why only 30% Indians are enjoying 100% Indian resources and 70% Indians are living life like a beggar.
This 30% do not even know how the poor Indians are living , when hundreds of farmers committed suicide no body came to there help, but when One Satyam got problem ,immediate Government of India helped the Satyam and solved there problem.

2. Yes I agree with you who will pay the money, this is reason I said this bill lacks the provision of extra taxation on these 30% Indians. 70% Indians do daily earn 20 rupees as per government of India report and here these 30% Indians and few of them earn per minute 1 lakh rupees, how is it possible without corruption and bad laws. So its duty of government of India to do needful required whatever and provides poor Indians best education.
3. 2nd provision which we need in India is that all the kids of politicians should study in the government of India schools, make this law and I guarantee you in 2 years all the government schools will beat this unaided schools in every examination.
And competitions.

4. Today the tragedy of India is only 2 to 5% is given for the education.
in the budget, as education is considered useless in India, how much salary the teachers get even if teachers go on strike there salary is not increased how can we expect a teacher with mere salary will be able to teach the kids when he is unhappy
The law is good and perfect problem is with our thinking and politicians. And our legal system.
We saw many terror attacks on India and Bombay, but when first time Taj was attack media paid so much attention to this attack, before that there were Bombay train blast where poor Indians died no one went there and there was no Candle function.
So it’s as an Indian it’s our failure to make good laws and see that our poor people are uplifted.
In India how rich people start business I will tell you few examples, when you open Sez you get free land, you get tax free environment for 25 years or 10 years with best area on the other side our farmers produce food, they sell one rupee kg and when they go to buy seeds for next farming they don’t have seed, have to purchase from black market or the prices are too high. Why don’t they get seeds at the rate of 1 rupee kg?
Example 2- Multiplex do not pay tax for the first 2 or 3 years after starting there business.
Example 3 - how can government of India afford to spend more than 1000 crores rupees.
On building statues? And not ready to pay for the clothes and good decent living of people of India or the education of Indian poor kids.
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Like this there are many examples I can give, the problem in India is that we are very slow in implementation of these laws.
The law has been made now let’s see that these laws are implemented and in the budget good amount of money should be kept for the education.
Let rich people also come into contact with poor people of India, let the rich kids know how there poor brothers and sisters are living in slums.
“All this will not be finished in the first hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.