Why have the provisions of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education act ,2009 remained broadly unimplemented in U.P. so far, despite the fact that it came into force on April 1,2010 duly notified by Central Government? What is wrong with us in this state?Why have other states gone far ahead than U.P.?
I have identified the five major areas as below:
1.The rules authorise the district Basic Shiksha Adhikari to prepare a list of eligible disadvantaged /weaker students and allocate these students to different schools which have the duty to admit these students .This centralisation is not only time consuming and inefficient .It has the potential to result in large scale corruption and malpractices.Why cant we provide for parents applying directly to the schools , with copies of requisite certificates.?Only when private schools do not act or respond, the official machinery should intervene.
2.The second important area is regarding the inadequate compensation to be paid to the private schools when they accept to educate the children from the disadvantaged /weaker sections.At present , it has been kept at Rs. 450 per student per month.This is much lower than the actual expenditure per student per month in government schools, as any simple calculation would indicate.Why the government has chosen to disregard the provisions of law and deliberately kept it low, is not clear.Perhaps , it is a case of indifference , perhaps a case of bonafide mistake .In either case , it needs to be corrected post haste.
3.Thirdly , we need to encourage private schools to provide better infrastructure, better paid teachers , better equipments than are available at government schools .This implies that government should give a free hand to the private schools to fix the fees that they can charge from the students.Only this kind of revenue model will encourage the private schools to implement the Right to Education Act , in letter and spirit.
4. Fourthly , the government must not artificially bring in the concept of municipal wards while defining the radius of one km (for primary schools)from the residence of a disadvantaged /weaker section student.The Right to Education Act does not recognise any ward for its implementation .
5.Last but not the least .If there are more than one private schools in the neighbourhood which can give admission to the students of the disadvantaged sections ,to which school should such children be sent?It should not be left to the fancy/discretion of a government official ,or even to the parents of children .It should be decided strictly by the shortest distance , because that alone is the most objective parameter.
If these five categories of issues are addressed in fair, just and objective manner , we shall be doing a great service to the children of Uttar Pradesh .The question is :who will do it and after how much time?
I have identified the five major areas as below:
1.The rules authorise the district Basic Shiksha Adhikari to prepare a list of eligible disadvantaged /weaker students and allocate these students to different schools which have the duty to admit these students .This centralisation is not only time consuming and inefficient .It has the potential to result in large scale corruption and malpractices.Why cant we provide for parents applying directly to the schools , with copies of requisite certificates.?Only when private schools do not act or respond, the official machinery should intervene.
2.The second important area is regarding the inadequate compensation to be paid to the private schools when they accept to educate the children from the disadvantaged /weaker sections.At present , it has been kept at Rs. 450 per student per month.This is much lower than the actual expenditure per student per month in government schools, as any simple calculation would indicate.Why the government has chosen to disregard the provisions of law and deliberately kept it low, is not clear.Perhaps , it is a case of indifference , perhaps a case of bonafide mistake .In either case , it needs to be corrected post haste.
3.Thirdly , we need to encourage private schools to provide better infrastructure, better paid teachers , better equipments than are available at government schools .This implies that government should give a free hand to the private schools to fix the fees that they can charge from the students.Only this kind of revenue model will encourage the private schools to implement the Right to Education Act , in letter and spirit.
4. Fourthly , the government must not artificially bring in the concept of municipal wards while defining the radius of one km (for primary schools)from the residence of a disadvantaged /weaker section student.The Right to Education Act does not recognise any ward for its implementation .
5.Last but not the least .If there are more than one private schools in the neighbourhood which can give admission to the students of the disadvantaged sections ,to which school should such children be sent?It should not be left to the fancy/discretion of a government official ,or even to the parents of children .It should be decided strictly by the shortest distance , because that alone is the most objective parameter.
If these five categories of issues are addressed in fair, just and objective manner , we shall be doing a great service to the children of Uttar Pradesh .The question is :who will do it and after how much time?
No comments:
Post a Comment