The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education A Bill passed by both houses (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) August 2009

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education

A Bill passed by both houses

(Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha)

August 2009

An extremely condensed version of the RTE Bill

• Every child between the ages of 6 to 14 years has the right to free and compulsory education– 86th Constitution Amendment Act added Article 21A– The right to education bill seeks to give effect to this

amendment

• The government schools shall provide free education to all the children and the schools will be managed by school management committees (SMC)

• Private schools shall admit at least 25% of the children in their schools without any fee

Timeline

• 1950: Constitution of India introduced as Article 45, one of the directive principles of State policy: – "The State shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years

from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years"

• 1968: First National Commission for education under Dr. Kothari submits its reports. – Introduced several far-reaching changes such as uniform

curriculum for boys and girls– Mathematics and Science as compulsory subjects– It also proposed a Common School System [ access to

education should not be decided by wealth or class]

Timeline• 1976: Constitution amendment making education a concurrent

subject (responsibility of both state and center) was passed.

• 1986: National policy on Education (NPE) endorsing Common School System (CSS) was formulated. – Subsequent NPE’s endorsed CSS but it has never been implemented– Kothari Commission Report also called for a 20yr plan to implement

CSS, starting with simultaneously improving quality of current schools while pushing the quality of 10% of schools to higher standards

• 1993: The Supreme Court in the case of Unnikrishnan vs State of Andhra Pradesh ruled that the right to education is a fundamental right that flows from the Right to life in Article 21 of the Constitution.– This judgment allowed that RTE comes out of Right to Life, and so

included education as a right for children of ages 0 to 18

Timeline• 1997: Constitution Amendment making Education a fundamental

right was introduced.

• December 2002: 86th Constitution Amendment added Article 21A– “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of

the age six to fourteen years in such as a way as the State may, by law, determine.”

– The 86th Amendment also modified Article 45 which reads as “The state shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of 6 years”.

– This was deemed as diluting RTE since we went backwards from 0-18 to 6-14. Many proponents of the original right wanted the constitution to be amended again [including professor Anil Sadgopal]

• October 2003: A first draft of the legislation envisaged in the above Article, viz., Free and Compulsory Education for Children Bill, 2003, was prepared and posted on http://education.nic.in in October, 2003, inviting comments and suggestions from the public at large.

http://education.nic.in/

http://education.nic.in/

Timeline

• 2004: Subsequently, taking into account the suggestions received on this draft, a revised draft of the Bill entitled Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2004

• 2005: CABE committee report constituted to draft the Right to Education Bill submits its report.

• June 2005: The CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) committee drafted the ‘Right to Education’ Bill and submitted to the Ministry of HRD. MHRD sent it to NAC where Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was the Chairperson. NAC sent the Bill to PM for his observation.

Timeline

• July 2006: The UPA government decides to drop the Bill– Formulates a Model Bill– Heavily diluted from the CABE committee Bill– Dropped all private school clauses– Dropped all neighborhood school clauses– Dropped all financial obligations from the center– Dropped any committee to oversee implementation– Suggests that individual states pass that as a

legislation and implement

Why did the govt. drop the bill?

• Main reason was no money!

• Some Instances of Central Government spending:– In the year 2004-05 an additional Rs. 5,010 crore was collected through

the 2% education cess for funding universal basic education, but only Rs.2000 crore extra was spent for the purpose.

– The funds given in form of corporate subsidy (in terms of lost revenue generation) through the SEZ bill (which was passed in 2005) stands at Rs.90,000 crore as per finance ministry of India.

– Government has allocated Rs. 9,320 crore in 2005-06 for National highway Development Program (NHDP).

– Government has promised to spend an additional Rs.20,000 crore (estimated) on increasing seats in higher education institutions over the next three years.

What would it take to fund the bill?

• What would it take to fund this bill?– The CABE report suggests that the implementation of the Bill will require

an additional amount between Rs 3,21,000 crore and Rs 4,26,000 crore over six years

– That is an annual average of Rs 53,500 crore to Rs 72,700 crore in addition to the Rs 47,100 crore that is being spent on elementary education currently (2003-04).

– The amount budgeted to be raised by the Education Cess in 2005-06 was Rs 6,875 crore, and assuming that grew at the nominal GDP growth (assumed at 9% by the CABE Committee for its calculations), it would cover just 15-20% of the additional requirement.

• This would imply an estimated increase of 6.4%-8.5% to the central government’s annual budget.

• UPA Govt.’s Common Minimum Program guarantees to spend 6% of GDP on Education

• This Bill required 1.1 to 1.4% of GDP to be spent on elementary education

Forward to 2008, just prior to elections

• The HRD Ministry's working group (WG) draft was sent to the concerned Ministries around February

• Women and Child Welfare sent in its formal approval soon since the WG draft had made the National Commission for Child Rights (NCPCR) as the overseeing institution

• The Finance Ministry approval followed by mid-March• The Law Ministry had many objections, including references to 'compulsion

on the state' and the HRD Minister had to meet with the Law Minister and this ensured that the budget session of the Parliament deadline was missed

• The Law Ministry finally sent in the formal draft on 8th July that retains – the free and compulsory education objects, – the quality related chapter on content and process – and a better mandatory schedule (some of the items that were to be 'prescribed'

in the WG draft - like playground, boundary wall etc have also been made mandatory).

• But they continued to refuse to use the term 'equitable education', insisting it is not justiciable.

Introduction in the Parliament

• UPA govt. survives confidence vote (mid’08)– PM in his speech after the vote talks about making the RTE bill a

legislation

• Bill not referred back to HLG, instead goes to the Cabinet, for approval for introduction to the parliament

• Planned introduction for the Monsoon session falls through, and bill pushed out past elections

• Rahul Gandhi talks about RTE Bill in the list of high priority items post election

• Kapil Sibal, who chaired the 2005 committee on the draft bill, becomes HRD minister and vows to push this bill as it stands (with 25% neighborhood clause, no capitation fee, etc.)

Key points of contention

• Draft has the 25% neighborhood clause– Which means private schools also have to take in 25% students

from their neighborhood– Govt. to pay for this (mandated)

• Original Common School System had this at 100%– Which would nearly eliminate private schools (by making them

no-fee schools)

• Govt. (politicians, bureaucrats, private school lobbies) hate this clause

• Some draftees of the Bill (led by Anil Sadgopal) don’t like the diluted 25% version (or the 6-14 age) and are proposed a re-amendment to the 86th amendment

Key points of contention

• Neo-liberal ideology – Spending on universal primary education is wasteful

• Fear of endless litigations• Curb on EGS centers and para-teachers in SSA• Dilution of merit with the 25% quota• Allowing legal status to the community through SMCs• Mandatory schedule• Ban on capitation fee and admission tests of any kind• Threat to central elite schools like KV Navodaya

• Overwhelming support on all this from private school lobbies, conservative middle class opinions, corporate media, elements within political parties

Finally in 2009

• Rajya Sabha passes the bill and passes it on to the Lok Sabha– The passed bill from the Rajya Sabha different from

the one introduced

• Lok Sabha passes the bill• Currently

– The final passed version yet to be published– Errata yet to be published– Once the bill is signed by the President and entered in

the Gazette, it becomes a Law.

2009 Bill on The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education

• [CH1] Preliminary– Child: of age between 6 and 14 (inclusive)– Elementary education: between classes 1 and 8

(inclusive)– School:

• Government school• Government-aided school (even by subsidized land)• School of specified category (KV, Navodaya, Sainik school)• Private schools (no govt. aid)

– Capitation fee: any donation other than prescribed fee


• [CH2] Right to Free and Compulsory Education– Every child has the right to free and compulsory

elementary education in a neighborhood school– There will be no fee charged for this– If a child has not been admitted at age 6, then should

be admitted to age-appropriate class, and has to be provided appropriate special training

– Transfer certificate should necessarily be issued to children leaving school for any reason

• including cannot complete elementary education in this school• This clause particularly helps children of migrant workers


• [CH3] Duties of appropriate govt and parents– In order to implement this, the appropriate local govt will establish a

school whereever there isnt one, within 3 years of this Act.– Central govt. and State govt. will have concurrent responsibility of

funding the Act• Central govt will prepare estimates of capital and recurring expenses, and

provide grants to states• Central govt may request the President to make a reference to the Finance

Commission for additional resources• State govt (including central funds and its own resources) will be responsible

for funds to implement the Act– Central govt will develop a National Curriculum to be used as part of

implementing the Act– Compulsory Education:

• Ensure compulsory enrollment• Ensure availability of a neighborhood school• Ensure child belonging to weaker section or disadvantaged group is not

discriminated against– Duty of the parent:

• Ensure their child is admitted to a neighborhood school for elementary education


• [CH4] Responsibilities of schools and teachers– From this act:

• Govt schools will provide 100% free education• Aided schools will admit children for free proportional to the aid they

receive (with a minimum 25%) – If a school receives 70% of its funds from the govt, then it has to admit

70% of its children from the neighborhood, for free, and wont receive any further grant from the state for these children

• Private schools and special category schools have to admit 25% of their enrollment from the neighborhood without assessing merit or admission tests

– The schools will be reimbursed for this proportion of children by the state, at the state’s cost estimate

– There will be no capitation fee or screening for admission [punishable offences]

– No child admitted in a school will be held back in a class or expelled

– No child will be subject to physical punishment or mental harassment [punishable offence]


• [CH4] Responsibilities of schools and teachers– No school will be established without a certificate of

recognition– All schools (other than private) will constitute a School

Management Committee• 75% members should be parents• 50% women• Proportional representation of parents of disadvantaged and

weaker sections• Will monitor working of the school• Prepare a school development plan• Monitor utilization of all grants received by the school


• [CH4] Responsibilities of schools and teachers– Minimum qualifications needed for a teacher– Current teachers to attain minimum qualifications within 5 years– Teachers to:

• Maintain regularity and punctuality• Conduct classes and complete the entire curriculum• Assess learning ability of each child and supplement instruction

wherever required• Hold regular meeting with parents and SMCs and apprise them of

progress of the children

– Within 6months of the Act, pupil-teacher ratio to meet prescribed schedule

– No teacher will engage in private tuition or private teaching activity

– No school to have more than 10% vacancy in teachers at any time


• [CH5] Curriculum and completion of elementary education– Curriculum and evaluation procedure to be laid down by

academic authority appointed by the appropriate govt– Curriculum to take into consideration:

• Values of the constitution• All round development of the child• Building a child’s knowledge, potential and talent• Development to the fullest extent of both physical and mental

abilities of the child• Learning through activities, discovery and exploratino in a child-

friendly and child-centric approach• Medium of instruction, as far as practicable, in mother tongue• Making the child free of fear, trauma, and anxiety and helping the

child express views freely– No child will need to pass a board exam until the end of

elementary education– All children completing elementary education to be awarded a

certificate


• [CH6] Protection of Right of Children• National commission for protection of child rights:

– Examine and review safeguards for child rights under the act

– Inquire into complaints relating to child’s right to free and compulsory education

• Redressal of grievances to happen within 3 months• More process for appeals elaborated in the act• National Advisory Council to oversee

implementation of the act in the spirit of the Law


• Teacher-Pupil Ratio:– 1st to 5th classes:

• upto 60 children – 2 teachers• between 61 and 90 – 3 teachers• between 91 and 120 – 4 teachers• between 121 and 200 – 5 teachers• above 150 children – 5 teachers + 1 head teacher• above 200 children – not to exceed 1:40, w/o head

– 6th to 8th classes:• At least 1 teacher per class, and at least 1 teacher for each of

Science&Mathematics, SocialStudies, Languages• At least 1:35 ratio• Over 100 kids: 1 full time head teacher + part time teachers

for art education, health/physical education, work education


• Building:– All-weather building consisting of:

• One classroom for each teacher, plus one office/store/head-teacher’s room

• Barrier-free access• Separate toilets for girls and boys• Safe and adequate drinking water for all children• Kitchen to cook mid-day meal in school• Playground• Secured wall/fencing• Library in each school providing newspapers, magazines,

books on all subjects, including story-books• Play materials, games and sports equipment• Teaching/Learning equipment

Some observations

• Schools:– Establish neighborhood govt school wherever its not available

within 3 years– 25% minimum neighborhood enrollment for private/special

schools with reimbursement from the state– Proportional enrollment as aid, for aided schools with 25%

minimum– No assessing merit, no admission tests– No capitation fees

• Kothari Commission Report talked about eliminating discrimination by wealth and class, instead choosing by merit – this bill goes one step further towards equitable universal education

Observations

• Quality of education:– Minimum standards for schools– Minimum qualifications for teachers– Defined academic responsibilities of teachers– Minimum quality of curriculum content and process– These will outlaw all para-teachers, EGS schemes, and other

external stop-gap measures– Bans tuitions by teachers– No physical punishment or mental harassment– No ‘punishment’ on parents – compulsory education enforces

compulsion on state to perform, not put conditions on parents– Defines ‘free’ as free from all fiscal barriers and not just non-

payment of fees– Schools cant refuse admission because of lack of TC

Observations

• Non-academic duties of teachers:– Elections, census, disaster management all retained– Is a constitutional provision, and would take more

amendments to avoid that• Wherever practicable, medium of instruction to

be in mother tongue– Starting Ambedkar, dalit leaders have opposed this

saying dalit emancipation is linked to freedom from caste dominating local languages; insist on English

– Certain ‘global’ elite of India may want English, for different reasons

– As a political solution to include all parties, bill leaves it as wherever practicable

Documents

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education A Bill passed by both houses (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) August 2009