The Right to Free & Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (aka RTE Act) has become operational with effect from April 1. My reading of this historic legislation enabled by a constitutional amendment, is that its objective is to ensure equal education opportunities for all children. Its laudable goal is to balance an unequal society where so many innocent, bright and inquisitive young minds are denied the nurturance of schooling which is routinely available to children of the privileged. It should enable the young nation that is India to realise its full potential as a knowledge society and take its rightful place among the leading countries of the world.Therefore its unsurprising that the RTE Act, conceived by the BJP, mid-wifed by the communist parties and claimed as progeny by the Congress, sailed through Parliament without substantial debate. But as happens with spoilt and pampered children, this legislation while intended to bring joy, has the potential to do great damage. Clearly a case of noble intent, sabotaged by negligence of detail.
While the RTE Act was in process and awaiting presidential assent, I tried to raise a few points of general concern in the corridors of power. But unfortunately I fall into that minority known as the intelligentsia, not only politically irrelevant, but also believed to be disconnected with the common man, and thus at best to be humoured, not heeded.
However after careful perusal of the Act and its rules, I have come to the con-clusion that politicians have got it wrong again. They have made a huge promise and shown the common man a dream. If they fail to deliver the promise, resentment will be equally huge. And how can they deliver when the Act is more concerned about shutting down schools on grounds of inadequate infrastructure than it is about setting up new ones? It also relies heavily on providing poor children seats in private schools to the insignificant extent of a quarter of 1 percent of the entire school population each year in real terms.
So not only will the RTE Act fail to satisfy the masses, but the burden of the scheme is passed on to private schools who in turn will pass it on to fee-paying lower middle and middle class parents. A parent already struggling to pay fees for two children is unlikely to be willing to pay higher tuition fees to accommodate poor neighbourhood children.
Politicians who engineered this legislation (which is being fiercely contested by several private school associations as being violative of their fundamental right to administer themselves without government inter-ference), and idealists may believe I am too cynical. They will contend they arent looking for votes but for the common good of all citizens of India. To them I would like to pose three questions:
• All examination boards lay down minimum attendance norms as a pre-condition of promotion to the next class. The Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) prescribes 75 percent. The RTE Act doesnt prescribe attendance norms, but makes it clear that no student may be detained or expelled for any reason. Is it therefore alright for a child to join in nursery and get automatic promotion each year until she reaches class VIII, and do this without ever attending a day of class for 11 years?
• For the past several years theres been a national outcry against ragging in schools and colleges. Its commonly accepted that ragging causes mental stress, results in sensitive students dropping out of school and in extreme cases, committing suicide. This prompted setting up of the Raghavan Committee on whose recommendation, the CBSE chairman wrote to all affiliated schools not to ignore ragging and severely punish culprits. Collective fines, suspension from class, expulsion and rustication were recommended in this letter. Discipline, it reiterated, is essential for all students to feel secure and flower.
Now the RTE Act overturns all this. It states that no child may be physically punished, mentally harassed, suspended from class or expelled from school. Therefore it seems that a bully can torment others, be rude to teachers, beat up juniors and tease girls with complete immunity from punishment even while enjoying automatic promotion year after year.
• My third and last question is concerned with the random selection process prescribed by the Act that not only does away with merit, but also with compassion and common sense. The Act rules discrimination against none which also means preferential admission for none.
Ever since I first became headmaster of a private independent school in 1988, I have always given admis-sion preference to siblings of already enroled students on the ground that families deserve this consideration. Its commonly believed this is convenient in the short term and leads to family harmony in the long term, and that brothers and sisters deserve equal opportunity.
Will my school become subject to disciplinary action if I continue to offer preferential admission to siblings? The law has been blind for long. Is it now the turn of education to follow suit?
(Sumer Singh is former principal of Lawrence School, Sanawar and currently of the Daly College, Indore)