Right to Education (RTE) A Step towards 100% Literacy
Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Education enables individuals to reach their full potential as human beings, both individually and as members of society. Education is also the driver of a country’s economic development, but it does not always get the priority it deserves.
India has the largest population of youth in the world. However, not all of them are educated. According to Census zone, India’s literacy rate is 74.04 per cent. Literacy rate among Indian women is 65.46 per cent, while for men it is 82..14 per cent. The main factor that contributed to this was the literacy in the country do not realise the importance of education and do not think it benefits them in any way.
Fortunately, the situation is changing fast. More and more parents, irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds, are keen to educate their children.
Since independence, India has also taken many steps to impart and improve education in the homeland. But none has been as concrete as the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The Act was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on December 2008. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on 4th August 2009 and the President gave his assent to it on 26th August 2009.
The Act came into force on ist April zoio as a fundamental right and with it, India became one of the 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child.
The salient features of the RTE Act are:
â– The state governments and local bodies must ensure that every child gets education in a school in the neighbourhood.
â– The Act mandates that even private educational institutions have to reserve 25% of seats foran children from the weaker sections.
â– The school management committee or the local authority will identify the drop-outs or out of school children above six years of age and admit them in classes appropriate to their age after giving special training.
â– Every child must get education.
â– The appropriate governments must ensure that every child gets free elementary education.
â– No school can deny admission tan o a student and all schools need to have trained teachers.
â– In case of schools not having trained teachers, they will have to comply with the provision within three years.
â– Schools need to have certhe tain minimum facilities like adequate teachers, playground and infrastructure. The government will evolve some mechanism to help marginalised schools comply with the provisions of the Act.
The Act has been criticised for being hastily-drafted, not consulting many groups active in education, not considering the quality of education, infringing on the rights of private and religious minority schools to administer their system, and for excluding children under six years of age.
Nevertheless, if the Right to Education Act, as envisioned by the government is successfully implemented, will ensure 100% literacy, which in turn will ensure the overall economic development of India.
While the ultimate responsibility of providing education rests with the Government, as enshrined in the Constitution, it is evident that the Government’s efforts alone will not be sufficient to provide good quality education to all.
Passing a bill is one easy thing to do, but the key to ensure successful implementation of the Act is to make parents, particularly in rural areas, aware of the benefits of education and to encourage them to send their children to school. Like many attempted social changes in India, this too has to start at the community level. It requires a widespread change of an age-old mindset and must make people, at the helm of affairs, accountable.
