Two years of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education

It has been two years since the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act came into force (April 1, 2010). As per RTE, every child in the age group of 6-14 years would be provided eight years of elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his/her neighbourhood. All schools have been given three years (2013) to prescribe to norms and standards laid out in the Act, or they will not be able to function.

However, many obstacles still remain for the successful implementation of the Act. One such challenge is rapid urbanisation. A recent Unicef report, 'The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World,' states that India currently has an estimated population of 377 million people and by 2026, 40% of its total population is projected to be living in urban areas.

Does urbanisation translate to better opportunities for learning for children? On the contrary, as many children instead of being in school, continue to beg and work for their livelihood. A case in point is the recent incident of a 13-year-old domestic help who was rescued from an apartment in Delhi, where she was locked and had been starving for three days, while her employers are out of town.

Urmila Sarkar, chief-education , Unicef, says, "Schools play a transformative role. Education is the key to prevent children from being in exploitative or vulnerable situations . We have to ensure that children are in schools and are safe. Child protection structures, too, need to be in place to ensure children do not fall through the cracks."

On how safe are schools as incidents of children being hit by teachers still persist, she says that corporal punishment is banned under RTE, further adding, "We need to find alternative means to discipline children without using the cane, and support teachers to promote positive behaviour change in the classroom."

According to Rukmini Banerji, directorprogrammes , Pratham, one cannot have a fixed strategy to take children off the roads and place in a school set-up . "One has to look at where they were and are and where they should be, and accordingly a strategy needs to be worked out." Ensuring that a child goes to school is not enough because a school building isn't enough for a child to be educated. "What happens in the classroom is as critical," she adds.

Both Sarkar and Banerji agree that the focus should be on learning outcomes. "It's not enough to have children in schools; we have to provide the right learning support. Instead of being fearful of the system, children should want to complete their studies ," says Banerji.

One way of ensuring this, suggests Rajat Khawas, principal consultant, Joint Policy Advisory Group, Manipal City and Guilds, is to recognise prior learning. "Many children may have skills such as weaving, carpentry, etc, before they join a formal school set-up . These skills should be recognised, which would encourage the children to stay on in the system," he says, while reiterating the importance of vocational education.

A National Stocktaking Convention on the Implementation of RTE Act will be held in the Capital on April 3 and 4.