Right to Education: Reality or Myth?
RIGHT TO EDUCATION: REALITY OR MYTH ALBY JOSEPH
In the year 2002, The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act was enacted by the Indian Parliament. This amendment provided for insertion of article 21A in the constitution, by which it was made obligatory for the state to provide for free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to fourteen years. This amendment envisaged a consequential legislation stating the modalities and intricacies of such a novel and innovative step. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was passed in 2009, to fulfill this requirement of legislative direction. This right made education a fundamental right of children and put the onus of providing education on the shoulders of the appropriate government. With this piece of legislation a new ray of hope shone for the millions of children in India who do not, or rather cannot, attend the schools. Human rights activists were filled with hope as they felt that this move had the potential to change the lives of innumerable children. Even a basic level of education could help brighten the future prospects of these underprivileged children. The Right to Education (RTE) stipulates three years to ensure the fulfillment of the majority of its milestones, which terminates on 1 April 2013. The nation has got barely a few months left to fulfill the historic promise made to ensure that every child in the country has a school of acceptable quality. It has been more than three years since the Act was passed, but whether it has been able to achieve its conceived objectives is rather a debatable question. It aimed at, among other things, providing free and compulsory education to every child, improving school infrastructure, rational deployment of teachers, appointing adequately trained teachers, prohibition of physical punishment etc. Just a basic study of
In the year 2002, The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act was enacted by the Indian Parliament. This amendment provided for insertion of article 21A in the constitution, by which it was made obligatory for the state to provide for free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to fourteen years. This amendment envisaged a consequential legislation stating the modalities and intricacies of such a novel and innovative step. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was passed in 2009, to fulfill this requirement of legislative direction. This right made education a fundamental right of children and put the onus of providing education on the shoulders of the appropriate government. With this piece of legislation a new ray of hope shone for the millions of children in India who do not, or rather cannot, attend the schools. Human rights activists were filled with hope as they felt that this move had the potential to change the lives of innumerable children. Even a basic level of education could help brighten the future prospects of these underprivileged children. The Right to Education (RTE) stipulates three years to ensure the fulfillment of the majority of its milestones, which terminates on 1 April 2013. The nation has got barely a few months left to fulfill the historic promise made to ensure that every child in the country has a school of acceptable quality. It has been more than three years since the Act was passed, but whether it has been able to achieve its conceived objectives is rather a debatable question. It aimed at, among other things, providing free and compulsory education to every child, improving school infrastructure, rational deployment of teachers, appointing adequately trained teachers, prohibition of physical punishment etc. Just a basic study of