The Right to Education Bill which belatedly proposes to put the countrys massive 160 million out-of-school children into classrooms, was first mooted in 2003. Despite a constitutional amendment, it is being passed from Centre to state governments, committee to committee and shuttled between groups of ministers. Summiya Yasmeen reports Given its deep, long-term implications, its potentially the most revolutionary legislation in Indian history. Yet the Right to Education Bill, which mandates free and compulsory education to all children in the age group six-14 — an issue which provoked a constitutional amendment unanimously approved by a voice vote of Parliament in 2002 — has not yet been enacted into law. Shamefully, the draft of the Bill, which belatedly proposes to put the countrys massive cohort of 160 million out-of-school children into classrooms, is being passed from the Centre to state governments, from committee to committee and shuttled between groups of ministers as in a pass-the-parcel childrens game. On August 8, the Union cabinet, which has been preoccupied with getting the Indo-US nuclear deal approved by the US Congress, referred the draft Right to Education Bill, 2008, back to a new group of ministers (GoM). This means the RTE Bill, drafted to give effect to Article 21A of the Constitution of India (viz, the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may by law determine) enacted following the 86th amendment to the Constitution in 2002, wont be ready for tabling in the winter session of Parliament beginning October 17. An ailing Arjun Singh, Union human resource development minister and prime mover of the RTE Bill, 2008, who was absent from the August 8 cabinet meeting, will chair the reconstituted GoM, which includes Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, Union science and technology minister Kapil Sibal, and the Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. This is the second time the Bill has been referred to a GoM (it was first referred to a high-level group in 2006). Curiously the composition of the new GoM is similar to the previous one. The only deletion is of C. Rangarajan who recently quit from the PMs Economic Advisory Council. No deadline has been set for the new GoM to submit its recommen-dations. We still have to finalise details such as the extent to which the states would need to contribute to fund the programme and (quality) norms that need to be followed, Sibal informed the media after the August 8 cabinet meeting. The historic re-worked RTE Bill, 2008 was widely expected to be presented in the monsoon session of Parliament after being buried in the HRD ministry, and tossed between the finance and law ministries and the Planning Commission for over four years. Despite assurances from the top including the prime minister, that the Bill is a top priority with the government and will be enacted before next years general election, to all intents and purposes, it has been…
