Education Bill finally cleared

1st November, 2008 : In a major boost to education sector, the Union Cabinet has cleared the long-pending Right to Education Bill which promises free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14.

"The Bill has been considered at several levels by the Group of Ministers (GoM). The Cabinet has approved the text of the Bill," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in Delhi about the decision of the Cabinet which met on Friday night.

Observing that it was an important promise to the children as education would become a fundamental right, he said that it would be legally enforceable duty of the Centre and the states to provide free and compulsory education.

Chidambaram said that the HRD Ministry would release the text of the Bill after consulting the Election Commission in view of the assembly polls in some states.

The GoM, entrusted with the task of scrutinising the Bill, had cleared the draft legislation early this month without diluting the content including some of the contentious provisions like 25 per cent reservation in private schools for disadvantaged children from the neighbourhood at the entry level.

Other key provisions in the Bill are no donation or capitation or interviewing the child or parents as part of a screening procedure.

The Right to Education Bill is the enabling legislation to notify the 86th Constitutional amendment, which gives every child between the age of 6 and 14 years the right to free and compulsory education. It was passed by Parliament in December 2002.

source:

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Union-Cabinet-clears-Right-to-Education-Bill/380176/

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It was only in 2002 that education was made a fundamental right in the 86th amendment to the Constitution. In 2004, the government in power, the NDA, drafted a Bill but lost the elections before it could be introduced. The present UPA’s model Bill was then lobbed back and forth between the Centre and the states over the matter of funding and responsibility.

Critics of the Bill question the age provision. They say children below six years and above 14 should be included. Also, the government has not addressed the issue of shortage of teachers, low skill levels of many teachers, and lack of educational infrastructure in existing schools let alone the new ones that will have to be built and equipped.

Key provisions of the Bill include:

• 25% reservation in private schools for disadvantaged children from the neighbourhood, at the entry level. The government will reimburse expenditure incurred by schools.
• No donation or capitation fee on admission.
• No interviewing the child or parents as part of the screening process.

source:

http://infochangeindia.org/200811047453/Education/News/Right-to-Education-Bill-cleared.html

With my maid...

Public health and education are the most important aspects of any civilized society. The development of a country can never take place if its citizens are unhealthy or uneducated.

Here I present the profile of my maid. Her answers made me rethink if we really are on that coveted path of ‘development’, about which we proudly boast.
40-year-old Rani residing in Trilokpuri is already a grandmother. She was married off at the tender age of 12. Reminiscing her childhood, she regrets, “Bas maine hi nahi pada! Meri badi behen ki shadi hui toh sasural walon ne mera bhi gauna kara di…”
Today, 27 years hence, Rani is living the life of a domestic help.
She suffers mostly from pain in legs. For treatment, she sometimes goes to dispensary or gets medicines from the people she works for. Generally, she ignores her ill health until it becomes unbearable. As she says, “ yeh toh hota hi rehta hai.”

She had four children, one out of which died. Initially, she says, “Do bachche hain.” But after a while adds, “ Haan, ek beti bhi hai par ab toh uski shadi ho gayi.” So, in all she has an elder daughter, a son, another daughter (who died at the age of 12 from Tuberculosis) and a younger son. All her children have studied upto class 5th in a school, the name of which she does not know, “ No.7 Trilokpuri mein ek school hai wahi padte hain sab”. Her children also used to get meals at the school but she took them off school after 5th because, “ School mein bachche bimar pad jate the.” When I asked about her annual expenditure on education she said, “ Wo toh inke pitaji ko pata hai.”

Talking about children, she said that her elder son usually suffers from nausea and fever whereas the younger son was more prone to bodyaches. For their illness, “No.8 Trilokpuri se dawai lete hain.” She says she always goes to a private clinic, never a government one. “Ek baar sarkari aspataal walon ne bahot tez dawai de di thi… uske baad se toh ab nahi dikhati bachon ko wahan.” Also, since the treatment is free, she is skeptical about the type of medicines they give.


Here I could not help thinking that some of her statements clearly showed her nonchalant attitude towards her own health, her preference for a boy and the fact that even though she earned, she did not know much about the expenditure.