Devil in the details
A.K. Verma Posted online: Monday , Apr 12, 2010 at 0051 hrs
A Delhi University law graduate, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mayawati's initial reactions to The Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Act raised eyebrows all over. The Act would help
children of most Dalits, a constituency so assiduously nurtured by
Mayawati. Even so, she has a point.
Article 45 of our Constitution required that within 10 years of its
commencement, the state should provide free and compulsory education
to children. It meant that this law should have been on statute books
fifty years ago. Moreover, the 86th Constitutional Amendment, 2002
inserted Article 21A which said, "The State shall provide free and
compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen
years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine." But,
Parliament took seven years to enact this law, and government waited
for seven months before enforcing it. When Mayawati calls it a delayed
Central response, she has a point.
This delay has helped private institutions for a whole year because
they close admissions in March. So 25 per cent seats from weaker
sections and disadvantaged groups in private schools will have to wait
for one more year before getting filled. This law also puts the age of
education as 6-14 years, whereas the private schools start admissions
at 3-4 years of age. How will this wide gap be filled up without
creating age asymmetry in classrooms?
Mayawati's equally valid objection is about projecting the compulsory
education law as the Centre's bonanza to people. Education is a
"concurrent subject" and, free and compulsory education to millions of
children puts financial burden on states. Mayawati may have felt hurt
because she was not consulted in spite of state governments bearing a
direct financial liability.
The ground realities in education, especially primary education, in
Uttar Pradesh are pretty bad. There are a very large number of
children in the age group 6-14, and about 30 lakh of them don't go to
schools. The literacy rate is a poor 56.27 per cent, and there is a
vast gender gap of 26.60 per cent in literacy (male 68.8, female
42.22). There is huge pressure on 1,21,426 primary schools (76 schools
per lakh of population), and 44581 upper primary schools ( 27 schools
per lakh). The pupil- teacher ratio in primary schools is 85 whereas
the new law proposes a ratio of 40. The total dropout rate in primary
education is 24.74.
Enforcement of the new law would require 4,596 new primary and 2,349
upper primary schools and 3.25 lakh new primary teachers. In addition,
67,000 new regular and 44,000 part-time teachers would be required in
upper primary schools, as per government assessments. Effective
implementation of the law against this backdrop means heavy investment
in primary education. Fortunately, governments were already giving
"education to all" under the 10th plan, through the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan scheme that provided education until class five to all
children in the 6-14 age group.
The additional financial burden on states in implementing the Act
could be mitigated through section 7(3), which requires the Centre to
give a certain percentage of expenditure as grants-in-aid to states.
There seems to be flexibility in this provision, and the Centre's
share may differ from state to state. Also, there could be better
allocation of funds to states in future under section 7(4) of the Act
which provides that the Central government may request the President
to make a reference to the Finance Commission to examine whether any
state needs additional help.
However, the educational bureaucracy together with the political
leadership is neck deep into corruption. Hence, pumping huge funds in
the hands of bureaucrats and politicians may increase corruption in
basic education.
Opposition parties criticised Mayawati for wasting money on statues
and unnecessarily crying about a resource deficit. They charged that
there would not be a resource crunch had Mayawati not allocated Rs
4,500 crore in 2009-10 state budget for memorials and parks. More, she
is making huge investments in creating a strong two lakh force of
retired policemen to keep watch over statues of Dalit icons, including
her own, in nine parks across Uttar Pradesh. But the kind of
constituency that she represents justifies such expenditure to bolster
them and give them a sense of elation. And, have others not done the
same in the name of Ambedkar, Gandhi, Nehru, Indira, and Rajiv Gandhi?
And there is a flip side of the law. Have we calculated the emotional
and psychological problems of a small group of "have not" students
rubbing shoulders with majority of students coming from affluent
sections? We may give them parity in school, but the economic gulf
between rich and poor may generate more problems than we anticipate.
And, while we may force rich schools to induct poor students, have we
any plans to take affluent children to government schools?
Mayawati may not be sophisticated in reacting to the Centre's
educational initiatives, but she has initiated a debate on the issue.
The nation may be infatuated by the new educational law, but, as time
passes, we may realise how ineffective legal instruments are in
tackling social and cultural evils.
The writer teaches politics in Christ Church College, Kanpur
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