IMPLEMENTING RIGHT TO EDUCATION (RTE) ACT: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Being a welfare state, we cannot afford to take risk in educating our citizen. India is home to 19% of the world's children. India also has one-third of the world's illiterate population, which is a worrisome trend. Each and every citizen of India has been mandated by our constitution to receive free & compulsory education up to elementary level without any discrimination. Apart from constitutional remedies, various other efforts have been made to champion the cause of ‗Education for All'. However, despite best of efforts, education for all could not become a reality. The Government of India (GoI), in its effort to provide education for all, took further serious and bold steps by way of making education a fundamental right (FR). This was possible by amendment of constitution in the light of Hon'ble Supreme Court judgement (1993) to make education as FR and making of right to education a FR (the 86 th constitutional amendment). Despite best of possible efforts, we are yet to provide our population a compulsory education (in an inclusive and enabling setting). Condition of PWDs is indeed very pathetic on international parameters. There are many hindrances which sabotage the efforts of our government and in the future amendments, this need to be addressed. Present paper tries to trace the origin, feature, drawbacks, its effect and possible amendments.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Department of School Education, 2014

The National Conference on Right to Education, focusing on the issues and concerns of Implementation was organized during 25-26 February 2014. The conference aimed at closely examining the RTE Act and its implementation through the research done by stakeholders from all around the country. Looking at RTE from the perspective of reaching out to divergent group of child beneficiaries and in terms of implementing effectively, scholars who researched its policy framework and implementation, presented their papers. The scholars were both from University Faculty and from NGOs involved in implementation of RTE. Discussions revolved around best practices, challenges in implementation and reviewing the effectiveness of the various measures given in the framework. Apart from this, the very research methodologies used to analyze the situation, were also reviewed by the panel.

Research Journal of Educational Sciences

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. (Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights). This UN recommendation has been reinforced in the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act (2009), which came into effect in India on 1 April 2010, enshrining in law for the first time the rights of all Indian children aged between six and 14 years to free and compulsory elementary education regardless of caste, class, gender, etc. The RTE Act, though deserves due credit for laying down in fairly specific terms state's responsibility towards education, it would be appropriate to examine the status and awareness on the part of schools and concern authority to provide free elementary education to the children aging between six to fourteen years of old. Present research study has tried to explore the status of the implementation, awareness and understanding of the provisions of RTE amongst teachers, parents and children in some rural schools of Haryana. Two years have already passed since implementation of the RTE Act in Haryana but so far there has been some progress only in terms of enrollment/basic infrastructure but towards guaranteeing quality education in terms of student learning the state has not achieved much. Same is the case with regard to its awareness and understanding among its various stakeholders. By providing some recommendations and further scope of research the paper calls for an urgent intervention by the government to strengthen the operational aspect of the Act in the state.

Since independence, country is trying its best to fulfill all the commitments for making education freely and easily accessible to its citizens. From time to time, different policies and programs were initiated to boost education system in India and to encourage Universalisation of Elementary Education, but the real scenario is really unacceptable. However, whatever the achievements are, these were still only on papers and actually due to various reasons and factors, these obligations could not be achieved yet. One of the best moves on this way was to provide free and compulsory education to the Children from the age of 6-14 years as a fundamental right that is RTE (2009). RTE Act was enacted by Govt. of India on 4 August 2009 and came into effect on 1 April 2010 all over the country except Jammu and Kashmir. The RTE Act promises to guarantee free and compulsory education to each and every child with and age group of 6 to 14. Various provisions are given in the Act to deal with issues related to enrollment of children from minorities and socially backward classes as well as children with special needs; re-admission of drop out students; teaching learning material; special resources to needy students etc. The current study highlights the status of RTE Act, with special focus on admission of students under this act and provision of resources to the needy students in grant in aid schools of Vadodara city.

2018

The importance of education cannot be denied in one’s life. It sustains the human values which contribute to the individual and collective well-being. The Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009 is undoubtedly one of the landmark regulations in the education sector in republic India. It aimed at providing momentum to India’s vision of making education compulsory for all. The RTE Act attempts to provide every child, between the age group of 6-14 years, the right to quality and equitable elementary education in a formal school. It focuses on educational inputs – infrastructure, teachers, and books etc. It is related to public interest so attention needs to be paid to assessing its impact on learning outcomes. This study attempts critical appraisal of the implementation of RTE Act 2009 in Parishadiya Vidyalayas of country. The study will also explore the steps taken by states for implementation of RTE Act, 2009 so far and their difficulties in proper implementation of the Act. The key point...

Delhi Publication, 2019

The title of the RTE act incorporates the words 'free and compulsory'. 'Free education' means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. 'Compulsory education' casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age groups. With this, India has moved forward to a rights based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.

Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust & Ors v. Union of India was a petition taken up by the Supreme Court, as a reference made by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court by a decision in 2010 in the case of Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan versus Union of India. The Apex Court’s decision by a constitution bench comprising of Chief Justice R.M.Lodha, Justice A.K.Patnaik, Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya, Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla on the the Right to Education came out last week, after which, schools run by minority communities inclusive of aided or unaided minority institutions no longer have to oblige to the provision of the RTE Act where in, one had to reserve a minimum of 25% seats for the backward community/ classes. The RTE Act is still held to be Constitutionally valid, but such “minority schools” are no longer obliged to follow the same. On the other hand, private unaided institutions are not exempted as there was no violation of their right under 19(1)(g). For one to be exempted, one has to fall under the category of “Minority Institution”. Stating that minorities have the constitutional right to run and administer educational institutes, the five-judge bench said Parliament could not alter these rights under its powers of Article 21A. The RTE Act mandated all schools to admit at least 25% students from the economically weaker sections of society. The Bench upheld the validity of the RTE Act and also for reservation of the SC/ST and OBC in all Educational institutions except minority institutions. The court said: "We hold that the Constitution (Ninety-Third Amendment) Act, 2005 inserting Clause (5) of Article 15 of the Constitution and the Constitution (Eighty-Sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserting Article 21A of the Constitution do not alter the basic structure or framework of the Constitution and are constitutionally valid." "We accordingly hold that none of the rights under articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution have been abrogated by Clause (5) of Article 15 of the Constitution and we hold that the (Ninety-third Amendment) Act, 2005 of the Constitution inserting clause (5) of Article 15A of the Constitution is valid," the court said. One may state that the fundamental right to Education was given to the minorities in order to ensure that the rights of these minorities are protected and promoted, but the practice today is something else, as majority of the students studying in the minority schools belong to majority groups, even the few minority group children are generally from the upper strata of the society. Further, these minority schools charge a big number as tuition fees which itself fails the very purpose of such a minority group institution in itself. These institutions are more of a business/ money making idea than an institution to provide and impart knowledge and education, and thus by imparting knowledge not being the key reason behind its existence, these minority institutions defeat the original intention of the Constitution. "

Eduquest, 2016

The enactment of RTE Act 2009 stirred the existing school education system throughout the country. Bundles of norms and standards were set to achieve universaliza-tion of free and compulsory education to all children in the age segment 6-14 years. Several initiatives were taken, thought the outcomes are not complacent till today. This study endeavoured to look beyond the general criticisms that were made earlier on the Act and its propositions. A positive picture which was intended to be drawn out by the act to some extent has been reviewed. The investigator has gone through as far as possible, the different status reports at national level which pointed out the favourable and unfavourable outcomes of the ongoing elementary education system in the country with special emphasis on rural India.

International Journal of Research, 2016

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"-Nelson mandela For an illiterate person, things which are right sometimes may go wrong, just because he is lack of the powerful weapon-Education For today's world, the one who earns is the one with power. And even if a person do lot of things, he/she will not be said to be accountable till the time it brings profit. As of now, I wish, all the citizen of my country to be educated so that they could contribute the nation's wealth and economy and can be confident persons indeed. Because education just don't bring knowledge to you but it also blesses you with self confidence which makes you realize about your own self importance. Thus, it can be said that education is the integral part of growth and development of every individual as well as nation. The role of education in facilitating social and economic progress is well recognized. Education is both a human right in itself and a means for realizing and promoting other human rights. The children have the Right to Education because education is the only key to open the lock of all hidden potential, sharpens their innate abilities and converts them into responsible citizens. It is therefore, there is need to put emphasis on education aspect to build the capacity of the nation to its fullest The recently enacted Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 in India is an important step and defining event in that direction. India is a largest democratic country with 1.21 crores people (Census Report of India, 2011). But 42.1% of people are still suffering from inequality in education here (United Nations Development Programme-UNDP, 2014). It brings a major fall in the position of India (India's HDI Rank-135) than the other developed countries in respect to Human Development Index (HDI) (UNDP, 2010). After 69 years of independence, India is still unable to provide satisfactory level of education to its all citizens. According to the Indian Census Report (2011), only 74.04 % people are literate in India. It means that almost 25.96% people are illiterate in our country. In this background, the Right to Education Act (2009) has taken by the Indian Government is a historical and significant initiative.

国際教育協力論集, 2014

The current article shows how until the enactment of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) the Indian State had never given a wholehearted commitment to make education a fundamental right. It traces the attitudes and perceptions of the protagonists for universal education and the arguments that had systematically thwarted any investment for universalisation of education in India. The RTE Act is a breakthrough, as it guarantees right to all children in 6-14 years age group in India, and makes it a State obligation to provide for it as per the Act. However its implementation becomes a challenge for an education system which over time, had developed practices to exclude children and had compromised children's access to schools. The system has to radically transform itself to reach out to every child by law.