THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION – Savera

India took a big step forward on 1st April 2010 when the right to education was operationalised as a fundamental right of all citizens. Under the new law, all children in the age group 6 to 14 years would have the right to receive education. This law will give a much needed push towards what the people of our country have been wanting for many years, and what was promised in the Constitution adopted 60 years ago – education for all children, without discrimination.

Universalisation of education at the elementary stage, that is, for classes 1 to 8, is seen as a foundation for further education at the secondary and higher stages in the future. The law is no doubt welcome, but in the celebratory hype about it, some of the tough challenges involved in actually implementing it have become clouded. A strong policy of follow up by the governments at the central and state levels is essential so that education actually becomes a right that is available to all, and does not remain another piece of paper. For this, the government needs to take up some key challenges.

Although enrolment in elementary classes has increased tremendously in recent years, driven by the thirst for education as well as the incentive of mid day meals, there are still about 81 lakh children of school going age who remain out of school. All of them belong to the poorer sections of society and to socially disadvantaged groups like tribals and dalits. The government needs to put its money where its mouth is by ensuring that school infrastructure and teachers are available in the remotest corners of the country, so that these sections are not bypassed.

High drop out rates

The spotlight till now has been on expanding the infrastructure, appointing teachers, ensuring that schools are at walkable distances, and so on. All this is undoubtedly needed. But the biggest problem facing the school system is that over 50% of children who join school in class 1 drop out by class 8, according to latest official figures. That is a jaw dropping number – about 9 crore children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. Note that these are not children who never attended school, who are a separate category. The drop-outs are those who enroll but do not continue in school, dropping out due to a variety of reasons. For the right to education to really mean anything, these children have to be kept in school at least till they reach the age of 14 years, which is the outer limit for coverage under the law.

Total enrollment in primary classes (class 1 to 5) was 13.44 crore in 2008-09, according to the latest official data collected by the National University for Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi. But in classes 6 to 8, the total enrollment had dramatically dropped to 5.34 crore. Earlier data from 2006-07 giving class-wise enrollment shows that with each successive class, students are quitting in large numbers. By class 5, every third kid has dropped out and by class 8 every second student is no longer attending school. The Right to Education Act covers children in the 6 to 14 years age group, that is, for precisely these classes in school. So, the dropouts need to be the biggest focus of the implementation mechanism being set up.

The government’s approach towards this crucial problem is that of obfuscation. There is no definitive number of drop outs in government circles. Last year, the joint review mission (JRM) of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, government’s flagship program for universalisation of elementary education, questioned the veracity of government’s estimate of 2.8 million out of school children in its report. It revealed that independent studies had shown that the actual numbers of out of school children were 6 to 8 times the government’s estimates from the same households. Out of school children include both those who drop out and those who never attended. According to the JRM report about 2.7 million children drop out of school every year. Thus the number of out of school children, in violation of the law for compulsory education, would be many times this number.

Calculations based on net enrolment ratios reported by JRM reveal a much more dire picture. The net enrolment ratio for classes 6 to 8 was reported by the JRM as 54%, that is, just 54% of all children in the age group 11-14 years were actually enrolled. This means that about 44 million children of ages between 11 to 14 years are not going to school. For classes 1 to 5, net enrolment ratio of 97% was reported, leaving out about 4 million children.

For handling the huge dropout problem, policy makers need to look at the factors that lead to children leaving school at various stages. Surveys by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) which asked boys and girls about why they dropped out from school, got some shocking answers. About 42% of girls who had dropped out said that they were told by their parents to look after the housework and 14% said that their elders thought that more education was unnecessary for them. In the case of boys who had dropped out, these two reasons were minor, given by only 11% of them. Their main reason for dropping out was to supplement the family income. Clearly, if the right to education is to be extended to all people, the government’s policy makers and education experts need to study the harsh socio-economic reality of Indian society. Poverty, and hence the need of families to supplement incomes, forces them to take children out of school, even though they know very well that education is needed for improving their conditions in future. In other words, they are forced to sacrifice their futures, in order to survive today.

Teaching Staff

Another challenge before the government is that of insufficient number of teachers. A simple calculation shows how dire the situation is. There are about 25 crore children in the 6-14 years age group in India, who would be studying in classes 1 to 8. It is recommended that there should be one teacher for every 40 students. That would mean over 60 lakh teachers till class 8 only. The actual number of teachers in primary and middle schools was just over 57 lakh. This means that currently, there is a shortage of about 3 lakh teachers at the primary and middle stage itself.

It is estimated that about 6.5% teachers – 3.7 lakh – will retire or leave each year. So, in the next five years, about 18 lakh teachers will leave. So, the school system is facing a colossal shortfall of over 21 lakh teachers in the coming years. In a short-sighted attempt to fill up this impending shortage, and as part of its’ equally shortsighted policy of privatizing everything, the government has permitted thousands of private teachers’ training colleges to come up. As several studies have shown, the quality of teachers being churned out is poor.

According to a NUEPA study, about a quarter of all teachers taking classes 1 to 8 have themselves studied only till the secondary stage. Another quarter have studied up to the senior secondary stage. So, the educational qualification of just less than half of all teachers is senior secondary or below. The remaining half is divided between graduates (about 35%) and postgraduates (about 17%). And, it is not as if these teachers are getting trained while in service. Only 35% of teachers got in-service training, as per the study.

The only way the government can handle these tough challenges is by considerably enhancing the allocation for education at both central and state levels. In 2006-07, the total expenditure on education at all levels (center and state) was nearly Rs.1.33 lakh crore. As a share of all public expenditure, it’s about 13%, and as a share of GDP, about 3.6%. If India is to really implement the right to education, this needs to be hiked to at least 6% of GDP, a recommendation made over 40 years ago by the Kothari Commission.

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