“In line with the goal of nation
building, India has been committed to providing free and compulsory education
to all children. Towards this end, Indian Parliament has enacted a legislation
making free and compulsory education a Right of every child in the age group
6-14 years which has come into force from 1st April, 2010- The RTE Act. Rashtriya Madhyamik
Shiksha Abhiyan has been launched recently as a step to universalize secondary
education. Simultaneously, efforts are being made to create a robust and vast
system of higher and technical education.”
Or so reads the inaugural paragraph of the website of the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development.
While our
central as well as state governments have always purported to be active
supporters of the cause of education, announcement of policies and schemes and
commissions is simply not enough for progress to be made in this field.
“The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) is the
highest advisory body to advise the Central and State Governments in the field of
education. Recent years have seen certain important committees and commissions
deliberate on education. National Knowledge Commission (2006) Report on higher
education supports a strong reform agenda through public investment. Recently,
the report of the committee on renovation and rejuvenation of higher education
(Yashpal Committee) has recommended protecting the intellectual autonomy of
educational institutions and the creation of an all-encompassing National
Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) to replace or subsume the
existing regulatory bodies.“
The ‘strong
reform agenda’ through public investment is a stellar idea, though it is one
that lacks the backing of ancillary facts and supportive ideas.
In a first in
over 30 years, the Modi government announced it’s plan to launch India’s
‘Education Policy,’ something that was last done only in 1968.
A slew of
reform measures like public-private partnerships (PPPs)
to finance education, seeking ways of upping India’s spend on higher education
to 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) from less than 1% now, and emphasize on
research and development etc were announced, with no concrete steps to follow
so as to achieve the targets mentioned.
The current
central government has been earmarked by political pundits and scholars as
being a ‘show and tell’ government, that
does little to act upon, and more to talk about. One can only hope that this
does not turn out to be the case when it comes to government policies on
education.
Other than the
measures announced, the Education Policy should also ideate about possible
measures to increase enrollment in existing government run schools, through
schemes such as the phenomenally successful ‘Mid-day Meal Scheme,’ and about improving quality of existing schools as well.
The PPP model
for education and granting of further funds for research and development to institutes of higher learning are concrete ideas that are capable of being implemented with ease.
CACR sincerely
hopes that along with the new promises that are being made , we are also
blessed with some action that will be taken in this regard.
No government can
ignore education, and we hope that the current one uplifts it to the levels of
importance it deserves to be at.
- Anand Banerjee is an intern at NGO CACR, an education startup working to improve the functioning of public schools in India.
To view the presentation on RTE-Right to Education Act CLICK HERE
To view the presentation on RTE-Right to Education Act CLICK HERE
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Website- www.ngocacr.com
