A historic moment

Posted by Ninad on April 5, 2010 under All Posts | Be the First to Comment

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.