Right to Education

Published on 24 Jan 2025

The 86th amendment to the constitution of India in 2002 provided Right to Education as a fundamental right in part-III of the Constitution. The same amendment inserted Article 21A which made Right to Education a fundamental right for children between 6-14 years. The Right to Education Act (RTE) provided free and compulsory education to children in 2009 and enforced it as a fundamental right under Article 21-A.

Features of RTE 2009

• Affirmative action: The act mandates 25% reservation for disadvantaged sections of the society where disadvantaged groups including SCs and STs, Socially Backward Classes and Differently abled. 

• Inclusivity: It also makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age-appropriate class.

• Spirit of federalism: The provision for sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments ensures cooperative federalism.

• Merit-based appointment: The Legislation provides for the appointment of teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.

• Regulation of staff: Provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief.

• Other guidelines: The legislation mentions standards related to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), Buildings and infrastructure, School-working days and Teacher-working hours.

• Other regulations: It prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment, screening procedures for admission of children, Capitation fee, Private tuition by teachers, running of schools without recognition. 

Significance of RTE 2009

• Education as a fundamental right: RTE initiated a rights-based approach towards implementing education for all, putting a legal obligation on the state and central governments to execute the fundamental rights of a child. 

• Remedy for denial of service: The Act is justiciable and has a grievance redressal mechanism that permits people to take action when the provisions of the Act are not complied with.

• Improved infrastructure: It resulted in the expansion of basic infrastructure in schools like separate toilet facilities for girls and boys, drinking water facilities etc.

• Example: Fraction of Schools with Useable Girls’ Toilets improved to 68.4% as per ASER report 2022

• Zero tolerance against the harassment and discrimination of children. The prohibition of screening procedures for admission ensures that there would be no discrimination of children on the basis of caste, religion, gender, etc.

• Participatory democracy and governance in all elementary schools: provides for the formation of a School Management Committee (SMC) in every school. These committees have the authority to monitor the school’s functioning and prepare developmental plans for it.

• Increased Awareness and Access to schools:  The Act has increased enrolment in the upper primary level (Class 6-8) between 2009 and 2016 by 19.4%. In rural areas, in 2016, only 3.3% of children in the 6 – 14 years bracket were out of school as per Ministry of Education.

• Social Inclusion: More than 3.3 million students secured admission under 25% quota norms under RTE.

• Accountability: Removal of “no detention policy” where a student was not detained till Class 8 through the 2019 amendment has brought accountability in the elementary education system and incentivized good performance. 

Limitations of RTE 2009

• Lack of inclusivity: Though the legislation has certain provisions to extend education to marginalized, it still fails to ensure full inclusivity.

• Example: Absence of provision for early childhood care and absence of reservation to minorities is a matter of concern.

• Procedural Hurdles: At the time of admissions, many documents such as birth certificates, BPL certificates, etc. are required. This move seems to have left out orphans from being beneficiaries of the Act.

• Lack of Cooperation from States: As Education is under the Concurrent list, proactive involvement of states is required for better implementation. 

• Example: Five States namely Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Telangana have not even issued notification regarding 25% seats for underprivileged children of society under the RTE.

• Urban Rural Divide in Teacher Postings: The distribution of quality schools and teaching staff are concentrated in urban areas, making quality education difficult for rural students.

• Example: As per UDISE+ data and PLFS, there are nearly 120,000 single-teacher schools in the country, of which an overwhelming 89 percent are in rural areas.

• Loss of Quality of Education:  RTE Act appears to be mostly input oriented and more focus is being given to statistics of RTE rather than quality of learning. 

• Example: Children in Std III who are at least able to do subtraction reduced from 28.2% in 2018 to 25.9% in 2022

Steps to be Taken to Strengthen RTE

• Privileges to minority groups: The literacy level among the minority is low, and there should be reservations to increase their access to education.

• Inclusion of childcare: RTE to be made more inclusive and all-encompassing by expanding it to children of 3-18 years of age.

• Incentivizing poor parents: Education Vouchers as envisaged by Economists like Milton Friedman - giving economically backward parents monetary support for having their children admitted to private schools.

• Ease regulation on low-budget private schools: They often provide low-cost, relatively good quality education to the poor, and the right to run a school is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the constitution as per the Supreme Court in the landmark TMA Pai case.

• Strengthening of NCPCR: NCPCR should be given the power to reprimand government officers for non-compliance by way of fines and by having that non-compliance included in their reports to be considered for their promotions.

Thus, Right to Education has been a landmark legislation in India’s social front, which has resulted in increasing the accessibility of education to hitherto untouched. Over years, more progressive initiatives have also been made to continue upon the initial works done by RTE.

Tags:
Social Justice

Keywords:
Right to Education 86th amendment article 12A inclusivity right to education act fundamental right UDISE+ inclusive education

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 2

Topics:
Social Justice