By Ram Madhav, RSS Akhila Bharatiya Saha Sampark Pramukh
NewDelhi,
Ram Madhav
Every child in India should have a fundamental right to basic education. With this laudable aim the 86th Amendment
of the Constitution was introduced by adding Section A to Article 21 in
our Constitution in 2002 during the NDA regime. The idea was mooted
originally by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, the NDA HRD Minister.
Although the Amendment was introduced in 2002 the NDA government
went down subsequently and it took almost 5 years for the UPA government
to bring a legislation in line with Art 21 A and make the right of
children to free and compulsory education a reality. Thus in 2009 came
the new act – “Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act –
2009” (RTE Act in brief).
It is a known fact in our
country that there is a huge disparity when it comes to educational
opportunities for the children of the poor, the middle class and the
rich. While the rich and even the middle class have ample options to
choose in the form of public schools, residential schools, convents etc
the children of the poor and low-income families have little choice in
the education of their child. The dysfunctional government school system
or some charities are their only refuge.
Over the decades very little success has been achieved in improving
our government-sponsored school system. Conditions in government
schools remain pathetic despite grandiose plans and infusion of huge
funds. While the world of basic education, along with that of secondary
and higher education, is undergoing tremendous transformation with newer
methods and tools being introduced the government schools lack even the
basic amenities like good teachers, electricity, buildings etc.
Teaching tools like computers are a distant dream.
No wonder the literacy rates in our country remains hovering around
73-74% even according to the 2011 census figures. 26% illiterates means
there are almost 300 million illiterates in our country. That makes
India the land of world’s largest illiterate population.
In that context RTE Act is a commendable initiative. It is also
commendable that the Act envisaged a role for private educational
institutions also in delivering this social responsibility of making
every Indian child literate. Under the Act all educational institutions
providing primary education – public and private, aided and unaided
alike – have been obligated to reserve 25% seats for the children of the
poor and underprivileged. And every child in the age group of 6 to 14
is extended a right to free primary education.
No doubt there will certain difficulties with regard to
implementation of this noble scheme. I am reminded of a scheme
introduced in Andhra Pradesh in the 80s by the then Chief Minister Mr.
N.T. Rama Rao. Under that scheme all hotels in the state have been
ordered to sell eatables at the rates prescribed by the government. The
idea was to make food available for poor people at affordable prices.
Price and quantity of each item was prescribed by the government – a
couple of idlis with given weight should be sold for Rs. 2. Initially
everybody was happy about the affordability. But soon the hoteliers came
up with a novel scheme. They announced two sets of menus in the same
hotel – one for the government products and the other for the normal
products. In a way it led to a class division in the same hotel.
The new education scheme too is fraught with such implementation
related hiccups. If the children of the poor and the rich go to same
school how will they mingle? Will it end class divisions in our society
at the child level or it will lead to introduction of class divisions in
classrooms itself? Right from the uniform they wear to food they carry
to stationary they use how would the children of the poor and the rich
mingle with each other well is a question to be addressed when the time
comes. In any case every effort for social transformation is fraught
with some such minor hiccups and I am sure that sooner than later the
situation will change and we would be able to create a more egalitarian
atmosphere in the society by imparting those values at the primary
education level itself.
But no one can deny that the private educational institutions too
have a responsibility in educating the poor of the country. It is
unfortunate that these institutions, for various reasons, decided to
oppose the RTE Act. Not all wanted to shirk their social responsibility;
many have other concerns like government’s unwarranted interference in
their functioning through this Act etc.
It is heartening that the Supreme
Court through a 3-Judge Constitutional Bench upheld the RTE Act and
mandated that all the institutions – public and private, aided and
unaided alike – must provide 25% seats for the children of the SC &
ST and other underprivileged sections of the society. The Court also
mandated that the RTE Act should come into being in this academic year
itself. That means the state governments have to urgently frame the
rules for the implementation of this Act.
However the SC judgment disappoints on one count. While the Central
Government wanted all educational institutions to share this
responsibility of educating our children the Supreme Court exempts the
unaided Minority institutions from that social obligation. One of the
three learned judges held that all the private institutions must be
excluded from the RTE Act purview. However the majority of the Bench
differed and said that only the unaided Minority institutions will be
excluded and they need not provide 25% for poor children. The learned
judges arrived at that conclusion on a very technical and hence
contestable ground that such a provision will change the ‘basic
character’ of the institution. The Supreme Court is expected to go
beyond technicalities take the spirit of the Constitution into account.
Even this premise that the ‘basic character’ of the minority
institutions will change if they implement the RTE Act is debatable
because the character of the minority institution is derived from the
management – which according to law should have majority members from
minority community – and not from the children who study there. In fact a
large number of minority institutions have students from non-minority
communities in majority.
The learned judges of the Supreme Court have fallen back on the
usual argument that Art 29 and 30 of our Constitution provide certain
immunity to minority institutions. Art 29 and 30 have been incorporated
in our Constitution as ‘educational and cultural rights of the
minorities’. And the RTE Act also wants to uphold the right of children
to education. Then how can it be pitted against those articles? At the
most the Court should have said that the unaided minority institutions
should provide 25% seats to the poor and underprivileged among the
minorities. To exempt them from this social responsibility completely
under the garb of Art 29 & 30 is an incorrect decision that needs to
be challenged at an appropriate forum.
This also brings up the insensitivity and irresponsibility of the
minority institutions to the fore. They vociferously opposed the RTE Act
in the Supreme Court and unlike the other private institutions,
succeeded in convincing the Court to exclude them. It doesn’t need great
wisdom to state that the minority communities in India have a good
number of poor and underprivileged people as members. In fact on many
occasions the minority community leaders argue before the same Supreme
Court for various rights like SC reservations etc in the name of the
poor among their flock. It shows their utter disregard for the poor in
their communities that when it comes to providing free education to the
children of their own poor they shrug off their responsibility. It shows
the minority leadership in true colours. For them only the numbers
matter but not the social conditions within their community.
It is a sad commentary that the Supreme Court lets them off the
hook when it comes to providing basic education to the poor and
underprivileged children of their communities. It is well-known that
many of the most expensive schools in our country are minority-run
schools. It is also well-known that they provide education not to the
pupils of their community but those of the rich families of the majority
who can afford the astronomical fee.
The SC order states that they can happily continue to do so while
the responsibility of the poor and underprivileged among the minority
community will be borne by the schools run by the non-minority. They
should do that without any prejudice because that is the ethos of the
country. But let the poor and underprivileged among the minorities
understand that when it comes to uplifting them the so-called minority
leaders show no sympathy or sense of responsibility. At least that is
one of the major meanings of the SC order on the RTE Act.
Nagpur, April 22: Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh Sarkaryavah Suresh (Bhayyaji) Joshi has congratulated
scientists who played vital role in making of Agni V. In his message,
RSS Sarkaryavah has said, “Indian scientific community in
general and the team of Indian scientists in particular, who led the
successful launch of Agni V, deserve hearty congratulations for their
remarkable achievement.”
Bhayyaji
Joshi has expressed satisfaction saying that the launch of Agni V has
empowered the Indian Armed Forces and made the Nation proud.
