Right to Education Act: A Comment

Author(s): Vimala Ramachandran

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , Jul. 11 - 17, 2009, Vol. 44, No. 28 (Jul. 11 - 17,
2009), p. 155, 157
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40279266

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Economic and Political Weekly

This content downloaded from

117.99.211.251 on Sun, 19 Mar 2023 17:48:14 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Right to Education Act: poor and the marginalised who will bear
the brunt of this neglect. As it is today the

A Comment economic and social background of the

children determines what kind of schools
they go to and with lower investment in
government primary schools, the poor-
VIMALA RAMACHANDRAN est would be the hardest hit and within
them children from disadvantaged social
To argue that alternative schools
article "Feasibility of Implemen- groups - especially, dalit, tribal and new
or private schooling can take tation of Right to Education Act" migrants in rural and urban areas. The
(20 June 2009) by Pankaj S Jain hierarchies of access in schooling have
care of the needs of primary
and Ravindra H Dholakia merits a serious been well-documented.
school-going children ("Feasibility
debate in the country. This comment is re-
of Implementation of to to the fourth section ofthat article Quality
stricted
Right of Education
Education Act", epw, 20 on the policy implications.
June Furthermore, the authors observe:

2009) is to effectively condemn Some education experts have opposed the

Neglecting Primary Education expansion of government funding for as/aie
the poor and the marginalised
It is deeply disturbing that the authors scheme and for any private- public partner-
to a second-rate education since recommend: ship based on low cost schooling as inher-
ently iniquitous and against the poor (Dube
they can never afford private ...large expansion of as/aie (Alternative
2007; CABE 2005 and Kothari Commission
School/Alternative and Innovative Educa-
and expensive schooling. The 1966). However, now there exists credible
tion) under ssa (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan),
evidence that both As/AiE-funded non-gov-
need of the hour is higher public after some improvements in the budget
ernment schools and private schools provid-
allocation to support higher education qua-
investment in school education. ed better quality education than the average
lity and setting up mechanisms to assess
government schools. ...
quality... Another alternative would be for
the government to contract out the bulk of What is this "credible" evidence? The
school education delivery up to grade 5 to problem of learning seems all pervasive -
private schools. . . It is, therefore, not at all an
assessment of learning outcomes done by
inferior solution. It would enable proportion-
the National Council of Education Re-
ately higher amount of budget to be allocated
to higher classes, and make the government search and Training (ncert), Annual Sta-
to play a more active role in the schooling of tus of Education Report (aser) and other
higher grades, the bulk of which is currently foundations point to the alarming situa-
left to private sector providers.
tion with respect to learning - not only in
The early years of schooling from pre- government primary schools. The answer
primary right up to the end of the primary to poor quality does not lie in privatisation
cycle are the most important phase of a of primary schooling or giving vouchers.
child's development, where the founda- Yes, higher investment is called for at
tions for life-long learning is built. It is at higher levels - but not at the cost of pre-
this stage that we need highly competentschool and primary education. The right
and sensitive teachers, who can stimulate to education should ideally guarantee all
creativity and nurture and build innate children "equal" rights and creating
intellectual abilities. There is considerable
schools with lower investment goes
global as well as Indian research that has against the spirit of equality for two well-
established without doubt that investing known reasons. One, substituting gov-
in the early years is very important (Rama- ernment primary schools with as/aie
chandran et al 2003). will affect the poor. The middle class and
It is, therefore, important for the gov- the rich will continue to access regular
ernment to pay more focused attention to schools with qualified teachers for their
pre-school education (which is currently children -- thereby further reducing the
grossly neglected) and to primary educa- chance of the poor ever competing with
tion by enhancing financial as well as aca- them in any sphere. Second, as of now we
Vimala Ramachandran ([email protected]) demic resources to create good quality do not have a clear picture of the nature
is with the Educational Resource Unit, schools accessible to all children. If the and spread of private schools in rural and
New Delhi.
government abdicates this space, it is theremote areas and even in urban/peri-urban

Economic & Political weekly 1333 july 11, 2009 vol xliv no 28 155

This content downloaded from

117.99.211.251 on Sun, 19 Mar 2023 17:48:14 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ===e==^^ DISCUSSION

slums. The
reasons, little
then the case for increasing per- all schoolswork
whereby - private or govern-
shows that
child private
investment in government primary sch
ment - are made accountable to ensuring
are little schools (and further, middle
more school children learn and arethan
provided a nurtur-
teaching and high school) shops,
becomes all the more ing environmentwherefor development. The
tle and the schools themselves are ram- compelling. right to education is not about optimal
shackle, and in many areas, unsafe. We need to invest more on the most allocation of funds between different
Therefore, there is a need to be wary ofdisadvantaged and deprived and ensure sectors of education - it is about ensuring
the "voucher" model. that every single child has access to
that they access the best quality educa-
education of comparable quality at all
tion so that we can proactively "neutral-
Conclusion ise the accumulated distortions of the levels. It will be going against the spirit
past"
Recent surveys (aser 2008 being the lat-(National Policy on Education, of this right, if we relegate the poor to as/
est) have shown that the percentage 4.2, government of India). Yes, this aie in order to increase investment at
1986:of
may pose a huge challenge to educational other levels.
students opting to go to private schools
has been steadily increasing and it planners.
is the Given the steady growth of the
most marginalised, and among themgross domestic product (notwithstanding REFERENCE

the hiccups, of 2008 and 2009), the gov- Ramachandran, Vim

girls, who continue to enrol and attend
and Aarti Saihjee (
ernment has to make resources available
government schools. If this trend contin- Cycle of Children:
cessful Primary Sch
ues, and if the people who can pay andopt
we have to create a strong and au- & Political Weekly, No 47, Vol XXXVIII,
tonomous
out of government schools for a variety of quality assurance mechanism, 22 November.

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

NOW AVAILABLE ON JSTORl

We are pleased to announce that back issues of Economic and Political Weekly are
available online through JSTOR, the not-for-profit digital archive.
Researchers may search, browse, download, and print the full-text PDF versions
of all articles in the back issues of Economic and Political Weekly from its
first year of publication in 1966 up until the most recent five years.

The journal is available as part of JSTOR's Arts & Sciences VI Collection and Business II Collection.
Users at institutions that participate in these collections can access the publications directly at
<www.jstor.org>.

Individual articles from the back issues of Economic and Political Weekly are also available for purchase at
$9.00 per article through JSTOR' s Publisher Sales Service, a collaborative initiative to facilitate
access to important scholarly literature. This program is meant to enable independent scholars to
access single articles contained in the JSTOR archive. For more information on this program,
please visit <http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/pssTitles.jsp>.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping the scholarly community discover, use, and
build upon a wide range of intellectual content in a trusted digital archive.
Information r ega r ding J ST O R available at www.jstot.org

Economic & Political weekly Q321 July 11, 2009 vol xliv no 28 157

This content downloaded from

117.99.211.251 on Sun, 19 Mar 2023 17:48:14 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms