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31st March 2011, New Delhi: Education is not yet completely free for children. 20% schools still charge admission fee while 42% schools charge money for study material. Admission is not allowed at all times of the year in about 30% of the school. These and other facts came to light in a study conducted by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in 9 states to check how geared up schools are to implement the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
The study was conducted to check if schools are able to implement RTE and whether the hardest to reach children in states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand and four other states have access to free education. These are the states which are home to children excluded from education- child labourers, trafficking of children, street children, missing children etc. This study was conducted in 251 schools across 33 districts and 146 Gram Panchayats.
'10 year old Farzadi stays in Rangpuri Pahadi, Delhi. When Farzadi was studying in the 1st standard, in between her session, she had to go back to her village and could not inform her school. When she came back to Delhi, the school authorities asked her mother for some documents which her mother was unable to produce. And the result being that Farzadi could not get enrolled in the school. But she still dreams that one day she will go back to her school and complete her studies.'
'Aslam, 11 years old boy, who was trafficked by his uncle in lure of a better life for him and his family. When Aslam was studying in 1st standard his teacher use to beat him almost every day because of which he stopped going to the school. His uncle told him to come with him on the pretext of getting a job which would help him and his family as he would earn a lot of money. On the contraray, he was made to work for 12 – 14 hours in a day'.
Bachpan Bachao Andolan, one day conducted a raid at his workplace and freed Aslam from the hell, where he was living his childhood. And he was then sent to Mukti Ashram, which is a short term stay home. Aslam now dreams of becoming a doctor after completing his education.
Some other key findings are:
- 24% of the children drop-out from school
- 17% of the schools provide no study material (textbooks and notebooks) or accessories (bag and uniform)
- 30% of the schools don’t allow admission at all times of the year
- No School Management Committees in 50% of the schools
- 16% of schools don’t have drinking water facility
- 33% of schools have no separate toilets
- Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are yet to form SCPCRs.
Addressing the reporters, Kailash Satyarthi, the founder of BBA said, “Government has utterly failed to address the children of hardest to reach categories which include bonded and child labourers, victims of trafficking, child prostitution and pornography, forced beggary, street children. Children with disabilities and HIV/AIDS, children from nomadic tribes, displaced and migrant families and those who live in abject poverty are also excluded from education.” He said that exclusion of education is in direct relation to social, cultural and economic exclusion. He further said that education of such children must be taken care through a coordinated effort of various ministries and agencies because through issues go beyond the reach of education sector alone.
Some of the key recommendations by BBA to make RTE Act a success are:
- An honest assessment of the magnitude of out of school children needs to be done.
- Government should give more thrust to spreading awareness of the RTE Act. State Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs), School Management Committees (SMCs), model rules in all states should be formed.
- 6% of budget should be allocated at both central and state levels.
- Privatisation and commercialization of education should be checked. These are attributing to the fall in the quality of education in Government schools as their willingness dwindles. Simultaneously, Government schools should also give thrust to quality.
- Inclusion and retention are important for groups that are excluded socially, culturally, and economically. Multi stake-holder partnerships must be fostered at the village level for the inclusion and retention of children.
- Child labour is the biggest obstacle to fulfilling the RTE Act. Proactive steps should be taken to eliminate child labour. There needs to be joint monitoring of child labourers by Labour and Education departments.
' Rohit is a ten year old boy who lives in Motia Khan and has been deprived of education along with other children in his locality in the name of development for the country – Common wealth Games. Their school was broken down in the name of games and even though they got over long time back there is still is no sign of rebuilding of their school.'
In Media:
A year on, education not for all
Enrolled in Bihar, working in Delhi |
