Posted by Ninad on April 26, 2010 under All Posts | 
With the Right to Education becoming a fundamental right, a question asked by many educationist is — How much will it cost the government to implement? And, where will it get all the money?
It has been estimated that the government will require around Rs. 171,000 crores over the next five years.
The Thirteenth Finance Commission has provided for Rs. 25,000 crores to the States over five years for implementation of Right to Education. This is over and above allocations for centrally sponsored schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, teacher education and the mid-day meal scheme, which is the largest of its kind in the world.
For the current year, the allocation is Rs. 15,000 crores and the centre will bear upto 55 per cent of this.
Already, many State governments have raised a hue and cry over this stating that they do not have money to implement and comply with the Right to Education. They have asked the Central government to provide more funds.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for HRD have clearly stated that money constraints will not derail Right to Education. This clearly shows intent on the part of the government.
However, there is still a yawning gap. Who will fill it?
Posted by Ninad on April 19, 2010 under All Posts |
With the Right to Education Act, demand for teachers in primary schools will increase dramatically.
It is estimated that around 510,000 additional teachers are required within the next couple of years.
In addition to this, there are around 120,000 primary schools in the country with only one teacher. If we need to merely add one more teacher in each of these schools to improve the learning experience, there will an additional demand for 120,000 teachers.
Where will these schools get so many teachers?
Also, the shortfall for teachers is higher in the rural sector. So, how will schools in the rural sector get so many teachers?
Over the past so many years, the teaching profession has not managed to attract the best of talent partly due to poor pay and also due to poor working conditions.
Due to the huge demand for teachers, it is possible that the compensation levels of teachers may go up, especially in private schools. Schools in cities are witnessing this phenomenon where the salaries for teachers are rising every year and schools are faced with attrition.
Many school managements complain that the teacher training imparted to teachers is woefully inadequate and the schools need to re-train the qualified teachers.
Hence, along with setting up large number of schools, government needs to push the agenda on setting up a large number of teacher training colleges. Indeed, the government should push for a PPP model in teacher training – lest we face a scenario of schools sans teachers!
Posted by Ninad on April 12, 2010 under All Posts |
Mark Twain has popularized this term “Lies, damned lies and statistics”.
With the right to education at primary level becoming a fundamental right, it is interesting to see some statistics connected to primary education in India (source: HRD Ministry). So, read on…
- Total number of children in 6-14 age group in India eligible for primary education: 19 million
- Number of children in the 6-14 age group who do not go to school: 8 million
- Drop out ratios:
- 25% by class V
- 50% by class VIII
- Number of primary schools in India with only one teacher: 120,000
These are staggering numbers. Around 40 per cent of eligible children (8 m) do not go to school.
Here are some more statistics (source: 2008-09 District Information System for Education) of the survey of 1.29 million government and private schools.
- Over 60 per cent did not have electricity
- 46.4 per cent did not have toilets for girls
- 50 per cent did not have boundary walls to ensure safety for students.
So, will the Right to Education change all this?
The gap is so huge that no amount of legislation can change this scenario in a short span of time. It will require consistent commitment from the government and citizens to increase the access and quality of primary education.
Because of the Right to Education law, more funds will certainly get allocated to schools and it will help in raising the capacity.
Posted by Ninad on April 5, 2010 under All Posts |
It’s been a long wait. Nine years!
The Constitution was amended nine years back to make education a fundamental right. On 1st April, 2010, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act became a law. India has now joined a few countries like Chile and Bangladesh which ensure compulsory education.
“I am what I am today because of education” – this is what Dr, Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India stated in his address to the nation – an unprecedented gesture.
Undoubtedly, it is a historic moment.
However, there are a lot of doubts on how it will be implemented.
Where are the teachers? Despite the bravado, how will the government fund a total spend of Rs. 171,000 crores (approx. USD) 38 bn? Why cover private unaided schools with an obligation of 25 per cent reservation for the underprivileged?
There are many such questions.
However, there is no doubt that education is now in the forefront of the national agenda. There is a law to back it and the Prime Minister himself had addressed the nation on this issue.
If not anything else, this visibility will ensure that Education now takes its rightful centre-stage in all policy decision-making.
