Analysis of Right to Education

I decided to write this blog on the various aspects of Right to education. What are the important points of RTE? How will it effect the economy? and what are the challenges in implementing it? Will it really benefit the people for whom it is brought into action or it will just create a perception of good governance or a welfare state or it is just a political agenda. I will discuss all the points in this blog using my limited knowledge.



First I will list the main features of RTE:
1. Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the 6 to 14 years age group
2. No child should be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education
3. No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of age proof
4. Provides for 25 percent reservation for economically disadvantaged students in
admission to Class One in all private schools
5. As per the new law the schools need to have certain minimum facilities like adequate teachers(fixed student- teacher ratio), play ground, toilets etc

I liked the 5th point most wherein it stated that there must be play ground in a school. Because I used to play Volley-ball till 10th class then I took admission in a school which did not have a playground and only I know how did I spend those two years?

My mother is a sports teacher in a govt girls' senior secondary school and there is no playground in her school. For the preparation of games she takes the student in other school. I do not how would govt ensure playground in her school because there is no space for it.

How RTE will effect the economy:
As it has been given that RTE will ensure adequate number of teachers(fix student- teachers) ratio that is 30 : 1. Which will require 5 lac new teachers and it create 5 lac new job opportunities.
Also RTE will ensure certain minimum level of infrastructure in all the schools like adequate
number of rooms and toilets. Improving infrastructure will also create jobs for many.
Hence RTE will also boost economy and will create many job opportunities.

Challenges in Implementing RTE:
There are various problems in implementing RTE
1. Different states have different minimum age of enrolling in school. In some it is less than 6. So first all the states need to change the minimum age of enrolling in school according to RTE.
2. How would government make sure that the student studying in private schools under 25% reservation belong to economically disadvantaged category.
3. It would be very challenging for the government to make sure that no discrimination takes place with students studying under 25% reservation category.
4. For me it is hard to believe that govt can ensure the same treatment with these(25%) students by the teachers and more importantly by the rest 75% students.
I strongly believe that in all the private schools two types of groups will be formed among the reserved (25%) and not reserved(75%). Which will create lot of tension for the school management(which is already in tension because of this 25% reservation for economically disadvantaged students).
5. Imposing 25% reservation in the private schools will create frustration among the management of private schools . Some have already appealed in supreme court. When govt schools are providing free education what is the need to reserve 25% seats. All the economically disadvantaged students can read in govt schools or does it indicate that govt does not believe in its own organizations?

Though there are lot of challenges in the implementation of RTE and to some it will be only a perception of good governance. It will be hardly a political agenda because the poor in India are more concerned about the food prices than educating their children. But India is a big country and there are many children who do not have access to elementary education. Hopefully they will be benefited by RTE.

I regret sometimes and think that I should have studied in an English medium school. But there were no English medium schools in my area at that time. Access to education is really important but the even more important thing is access to quality education. Now when somebody asks me whether he/she should teach his/her child in an English medium school or a Hindi medium school. I say there is no point in teaching in a Hindi medium school(I may be exaggerating). When we need English medium schools all over the India(in my opinion) govt is still struggling with elementary education. We as a nation are not keeping pace with the changing scenario.

I will edit this blog once I go to my village and get some pictures showing the infrastructure of schools.

Gendercide

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I decided to write this blog after reading an article in The Economist. Gendercide word is taken from a book by Mary Anne Warren which means murder of baby girls(or abortion) at a large extent. This article is based on the increasing boys' to girls' ratio or the distorted sex ratio. I would refer some ideas from the article and present my inputs on these.

There are three main reasons for the existence of this problem.


1. The requirement of hard physical labor especially in developing countries

2. Parents think that their daughter will leave them after her marriage and then, when they are aged, they need someone to take care of them

3. Traditional thinking that they(parents) should have a son as an heir to their and socio-economic reasons

There may be few other reasons for that but I found above reasons to be more relevant and important. Now, let's see how this problem of gendercide can be solved. Following are some ways to control the problem

1. Rise in the Service Sector Jobs:
Since service sector is one of the major reasons behind the economic empowerment of women in the developed countries. While in developing nations there is a need of hard physical labor so parents prefer boys to girls as they(boys) are fit for this requirement of hard physical labor. Now, if there will be more jobs in the service sector parents will start accepting girls though it would not be easy but I am confident that a rise in the number of jobs in the service sector will change parents pro-boys-mindset to some extent.


2. Strong Social Security System :
Now, since parents believe that their daughter will leave them after her marriage so they need someone who can take care of them when they are aged so they prefer boys. But I think if enough social security is provided to the senior citizens by govt. there will surely be a change in the mindset of the people and they will start accepting girls. Because then they wouldn't be dependent on any one hence they wouldn't bother whether a girl or a boy is born. The above mentioned cartoon exactly represents that where in the parents are dependent on their children regarding their social security. In the US where parents mortgage their homes and get an agreed amount payment from the bank till they live. Such options, if provided by the government in other countries, can really help in solving this problem called gendercide.

Then since there are also some socio-economic reasons for the existence of gendercide like in India dowry. Such social problems should also be eliminated from the society. There is need of television campaigns, strict gender discrimination laws, allocation of incentives on the birth of girl child and many such schemes.


Then there is a thought which says that wealth and development(like Hariyana, Punjab and Gujrat) is not a solution to the problem of distorted sex ratio and this problem is also there in some parts(Asian Americans) of the US. Here we need to understand one thing that economical and technological changes happen at a faster rate but the society and the traditions or the mindset change at a slower rate. Also in most of the cases social changes(mindset and traditions) are a byproduct of the economical and technological changes.

Now the same thing applies to the Asian Americans. Since Asia is a traditional continent so when Asians go to America they(Asians) may not have the same mindset as that of the Americans that is, they(Asians) may still prefer boys to girls. And there is nothing surprising in this because Asian-Americans haven't spent as much time in the US as the actual(native) Americans have. Asian-Americans may also have the same mindset as that of the native Americans but for that we should give them as much time as the native Americans have spent there in the US and we should wait for their(Asian- Americans) 2 or 3 generations because traditions and the mindset do not change over night. It may be that we cannot afford this slow speed but things take their own time.