NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY
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NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY
BANGALORE
PRO.JEC I ON
ACCESS TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS
SUPPORTED BY NOVIB
REPORT ON THE STATUS OE
RIGHT TO EDUCATION
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By
Dr. N.R. MADHAVA MENON
n
fT
fight to education
C ONTENTS
1.
INTRODUCTION
2.
Right to Education in Kerala
2
3.
Status of Right to Education in Andhra Pradesh
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4.
Right to Education : The Tamil Nadu Scene
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5.
Right to Education in Karnataka
14
6.
Public Report on Basic Education : A Summary
18
7.
Future of the Right to Education
22
8.
Primary Education in the Union Budget!999-2000
24
9.
Tasks before the NGOs
25
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NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY, BANGALORE
NOVIB Supported Project on
ACCESS TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS
1.
RIGHT TO EDUCATION
March, 1999
This li a brief report on flndlngi of a study on the subject conducted In four
Southern States with a view to know the government policies and practices on
Education in terms of the commitments under the Constitution and International
Treaties on Human Rights and Development. The object is to seek empowerment of
the people with legal knowledge and skills necessary to access whatever services now
provided by State and to build on them for better protection of social and economic
rights in future.
Report by : N.R. MADHAVA MENON
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RIGHT TO EDUCATION
Introduction
Making generalisations on the status of any human rights-related issue for the whole of
India is difficult and risky in view of the vastness and diversity of the country and the varying
standards of governance obtaining in different States and even in Districts within the same State.
The laws governing social and economic rights are mostly State legislations which vary in
content and scope. Similarly the priorities differ in terms of allocation of resources and goals set
for administration. To the extent that they are constitutionally or legally enforceable rights, one
can discern a core minimum content which is what the citizen can seek to access from the State.
Tn view of the difficulty in generalisation and in view of the prevailing confusion in some
circles about the status of these basic human needs (education, health, work and environment) as
legally guaranteed human rights, it is perhaps appropriate to present this report with separate
statements on the situation in each of the four f tates studied. Thereafter an attempt
made to
discover the core minimum content of the right and to figure out available strategies for
accessing it effectively. Finally, some trends in policies and practices are identified with a view
to mobilise social action ror enlarging and enhancing the status of right to education in coming
years. The assumption is that unless legal instruments and techniques are invoked as frequently
as possible in the delivery of social justice, the clarity of concepts and choice of access
technology will remain under developed thereby limiting the scope and reach of socio-economic
rights.
I.
RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN KERALA. THE MOST LITERATE STATE
Kerala is one of the smaller States of the Indian Union with an area of about 39,000
SqKms and a population of nearly 30 million
(Density of population
750 per Sq.Km ).
The
State is divided into 16 Districts and 151 Taluks. 94 per cent of the people are literate with
female literacy ranging between 88 and 90 per cent
Nearly 55 lakhs of children (28 lakhs boys and 27 lakhs girls) are studying in Kerala’s
12,500 Schools of which 10,000 are lower and upper primary schools, the rest being high
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schools. There are two lakhs teachers employed in the schools. The schools are categorised into
Government, Aided and Unaided, the unaided bemg a relatively small number of 517 schools.
The largest category is the aided schools which are privately managed, but funded by the
Government (7 400 schools) In short, the majority of schools in Kerala are in the private sector
and about 35 lakhs of children out of 55 lakhs are in private (aided or unaided) schools
The
State spends nearly one-third of its revenue on education of which nearly 97 per cent goes in
salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff The average enrolment in Standard I is 5 lakhs
which is 6 to 10 per cent lower from previous years
It is said that enrolment is declining
because of lower birth rates The teacher-pupil ratio varies between 25 to 30 students per teacher
and there are schools with teachers but few or nil students. This decline in students has led to a
phenomenon culled “protected teachers” who continue in service without having to teach in the
absence of students. The cost of exp aditure per pupil in primary -'ducation is about Rs.2,300
(national average Rs.950) and the primary school budget is about Rs. 1,000 crores per year. The
drop out rate is 1.3% in lower primary classes, 4.5% in upper primary school and 15% in high
school classes. The drop out rate for SC/ST students in all stages is almost double that of other
communities
(Source : Selected Statistical Inf< mation on Education in Kerala, 1996-’97
Published by DPI, Trivandrum).
On the basis of statistical data and in comparison to similar data from other States, it
appears that in terms of access and retention, the school system in Kerala does guarantee
substantial right to education for children in the State. But on closer analysis several factors
appear which make the claim hollow and tend to erode the real availability of the right
If
universalisation of primary education is the only content of the right, Kerala is close to that
objective. But in terms of quality, utility and achievement levels there is much to be desired
yet. In fact, educationists argue that the static curriculum and outmoded methods of teaching
forbid the students from attaining higher levels of creativity out of school education. (Dr. P.K.
Pokker, The Hindu, 2nd June 1998). Another educationist put it differently when she said that
one-third of the schools particularly in backward districts are so hopelessly poor compared to the
rest, that the right to education of children in these schools is a “total farce”. It is only the mid
day meal which keeps the drop out rates down and not the education one gets in school. In feet,
a high percentage of children after completing 6 to 9 years of schooling do not achieve the
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nationally prescribed minimum level of learning (MLL) leading to colossal educational wastage
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each year. Two thirds of all children appearing in SSI.f' examination in the State fail every year
and most of them are childre . from backward sections of society
In Kerala there is a flight of students from (rovemment and aided schools to private nonarded schools within and outside the State where the cost of education is very high. The studer-;
who can afford, spend considerable sum by way of private tuition in each and every subject
maKtng the instruction in schools almost irrelevant in then learning and development.
teaciiers are activ
m local politics
Many
1 are being elected members of Panchayat raj institutions
which tends to result in the neglect of teaching
The head of the school is involved in multiple
activities and there is practically no academic supervision of performance of teachers either at
the school level or at the district level
W.th wxlespread party-based political ad.vity among a
good section ot students, the number of teachi
remit of all
these
factors
is the pm
days get increasingly reduced The cumulative
level of achievement and the consequent non-
emnowerment or disempowerment of the child passing through the system. It raises the question
whether the right involves the dut- to mnpart some basic level of competence or achievement
after certain number of years of schooling? If the system does not do it what is the remedy
available to the aggrieved party assuming that it is a case oi
iolation of the right?
There is evidence to suggest that the school system is not only inhibiting the creative
talents ot gifted students but is promoting a cult of mediocrity perpetrated in terms of curriculum,
teaching methods and examination system.
In a sense, the new experiment of DPEP being
introduced in selected schools admit this serious shortcoming of the system and seeks to remedy
it by child-centered, activity-based, class room transaction with a revised scientific curriculum
and study materials.
The teacher is the dominant academic input in the learning process of the student in
primary school.
Importance of teachers is not adequately recognized iin primary school
ech^ahon (DPEP reportedly is addressing this central issue) Primary school teachers in the
Stat 3 are the lowest paid in the whole countn.'
even less than their counterparts in the
nep’hboiring State of Tamil Nadu.
Teachers organized
Teachers
organized on
on political party lines devote
considerable time in agitational politics depriving the children of what Kerala High Court called
S figj-d to uninterrupted education”. According to unconfirmed reports, to get a job as a teacher in
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5school, one has to pay bribe of Rupees three to seven lakhs to managements or political brokers
as a result of which, those who get into the teaching profession are not necessarily those who are
the best available in terms of qualifications and aptitude. Training and re-training which the
Government conducts regularly have little impact on them. Their political clout has grown so
much over the years that no government official can displease fliem, much less dialocfge them.
When such undesirable elements in the teaching community increase in numbers and dominate
over the majority of responsible teachers, the decline in quality of teaching naturally sets in.
Many well-intentioned initiatives and investments by educational authorities of Central and State
Governments are unable to arrest the decline in standards. Parents and students get alienated
from the official school system and seek refiige in high cost private tuitions or education in
good boarding schools outside the State. Those economically weak continue in the system
Which turns out thousands of “educated illiterates” unemployable in the job nurket Many of
them swell the ranks ofpolitical parties and criminal gangs.
Kerala’s school system is characterised as a “higji cost-low performance” model which
violates the right to equality and the principle of equity besides denying the right to quality
education which alone enables one to live with dignity. Right to education, the Supreme Court
declared, is part of right to life guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution in the sense that
without education no one can live a life with dignity. If that is the measure of the right, school
education in Kerala has to improve considerably before it can be acknowledged to exist in the
State.
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n.
STATUS OF RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN ANDHRA PRADESH
Andhra Pradesh, the fifth largest State in the Indian Union (270,0 0 Sq.Kma) has a
population of 67 million of whom nearly two-third are illiterate (62.5%). In fact, the State ranks
25 among the States in terms of literacy though in terms of economic development it is ranked
tn the 5th position While male literacy is 46%, female literacy is a dismal 20% (all India literacy
rate is 52% while for A.P it is only 37.5%).
According to the World Bank Report on primary education, A.P. has the dubious
distinction of having 75% of children of school going age being out of school ! Out of 77 lakh
children enrolled in primary schools, 37 lakh drop out every year! The drop out rate of SC/ST
girls in primary schools is as high as 75%. Out of every' 100 children enrolled in Class I, only 48
children complete Class V in primary education, (ie. 52% drop out). The number of primary
schools in the State is 43,000 and over 90% of habitations do have a primary school within one
kilo metre radius. There ,s on teacher for every 55 students. Most c, the schools have only two
teachers for all the five classes. 90% of primary schools do not have tcilet or drinking water
facilities and are housed in just two rooms in all. Even when there is a school available, teacher
absenteeism makes education not available Only less than one percent of the annual outlay on
school education is allocated for quality improvement. Thus the primary education scenario in
Andhra Pradesh presents a dismal picture oi neglect and non-accountability. It is problematic to
situate the discourse on educational rights in the prevailing scheme of things.
Legal Framework
The Andhra Pradesh Education Act, 1982 and the A.P. Compulsory Primary Education
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1982 demand enrolment and attendance of all primary school children in local schools to
be set up within 1 Km from the residence of the child. 'The law expects the local authorities to
prowde adequate accommodation and play grounds for all children admitted, adequate number
of trained teachers, mid-day meals, free supply of stationery and books, free clothing and
attendance scholarships to poor. I he legal framework on education was further strengthened by
the Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Establishment, Recognition, Administration and
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Control of Schools under Private Management) Rules, 1993 and the A.P. Educational Institutions
(Parents-Teachers Association) Rules, 1987
Schemes and Campaigni
Several Centrally-sponsored and State-initiated schemes, campaigns and programmes
have been undertaken by the Government from time to time and lot of money spent with a view
to universalise primary education and improve the quality of education imparted.
From the
statistics noticed earlier, it must be admitted that the impact of the schemes and campaign1 has
been far from satisfactory.
Comparing the situation between A.P. and Kerala, one scholar
attributed the difference to the level of political activity and participation of the people in
governance.
It is argued that politics does make a difference in resource allocation and
utilisation. Another comment advanced was that the style of governmental administration in the
social sector emphasises only “how much it spends and not on how much it gets out ot it . Yet
another comment offered during the study was that people opt out of education because the socalled educated persons are anyway i liable to find employment and in the bargain are alienated
from their traditional occupations in the village.
Vocationalisation and partnership with
community are suggested as possible alternatives to remedy some of the defects in the system of
school education.
An interesting point advanced by human rights activists in the course of the study was
that laws, instead of empowering the people, tend to increase the powers of the Stale and its
functionaries. The rules and regulations which the executive government make further tighten
the grip around the people ostensibly for enabling them to enjoy the rights. They play the rule
game with command over varied information not available to the beneficiaries of the laws. The
information revolution now under way m Andhra Pradesh is supposed to generate demand for
computer-aided rural education assuring relevance and quality at least in the future.
As in Kerala, the quality of education in terms ol content and methods is equally bad in
A.P. The alarming dropout rate is directly linked to quality of primary education. Added to that
more and more children are reportedly falling into the disability trap because of environmental
and nutritional factors. This, in turn, brings down achievement levels further.
Pejicy Drift and BurcaqcraticStructure
It IS alleged that there IS policy level confusmn on what m to be achieved by primary
education
Is it to teach
reading-writing abilities only o. ‘n create critical awarene9s about
Ffe, livelihood and society. Is- it to cater to local needs or to larger national goals? What are the
rou-s and responsibilities of parents, managements, local-bodies and community groups in the
matter of primary education?
In designing the instruments of learning and in measuring
achievement, the conceptual ambiguities seem to have driven the system to a meanmgless
exarmnation-onented operation -ocially itr ■ want and indivtdually unproductive of livelihood
abilities.
Furthermore, whale
polmies have been evolved and articulated by expert
committees and commissions the system failed to reach them at the implementation level
b
anse of transmission losses in the highly bureaucratic educational administration
Uck of competent and committed teachers is said to be the single most important factor
for a.! the ills of the educational system The system of selection and conditions of service are
to be partly responsible for this situation
There is no --stern of accoum.ibility tn teacher
performance and there is no proper supervision or correctional arrangements in place.
Bto School Programse
/Manned at the extremely low levels of achievement particularly of SC/ST children in
school education (over 80% dropout and do not reach VII Std.) and at the increasing spread of
cmr. labour, the Social Welfare Department of Government of A P. has started residential
s’ ■ men schools for school dropouts. It is said that an experiment by an NGO (MV Foundation)
>n this regard had yielded results in Andhra Pradesh
The Government adopted the . «.del and
the expertise of the NGO for institutionalising an innovative system of imparting education to
children who have dropped out or have never been to school
Highly motivated and skilled
tethers in each district are identified and invited to p::^ cipate in the “back to school”
progr amme With the help of a carefiilly jyreparcd teachers* manual the teachers are prepared to
dv a morough job of motivating the students and preparing them to join
an appropriate standard
ai oe end of the programme The activities during the summer school camp are rich and varied
to cater to the needs of every child which are designed to withdraw the child from labour and put
bv . in education.
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The Back to School programme started as a pilot project by the Government in 1997 is
said to be a path breaking experiment in protecting the right to education particularly of the
socially and economically disadvantaged sections of society
The programme initiated with
gr-at enthusiasm and full support of several departments of the Government in all the 23
Districts of A.P. is quite unlike the usual bureaucratic exercises and, if it succeeds, would be a
breakthrough in the otherwise depressing destiny of thousands of out of school children in the
State
tVelfare approach V. Kight approach
A section of scholars ventured to suggest that in matters of health and education, “the
welfare route” is more beneficial to the consumers than the “human rights route” particularly
when the consumers are illiterate and the transaction costs are high Taking the State as parens
patnae, depending on the good sense of public servants and adopting a conciliatory s^proach in
grievances redressal, this view cautions against pushing human rights advocacy in social sector
at the present stage of development.
When civil society gets organized, social capital gets
consolidated and legal institutions become more people-friendly, they say the ‘Rights* approach
may bring better results than now.
Should this line of argument is to be followed, social and economic rights are mere
aspirations and are not individual rights in the sense civil and political rights are. They are group
entitlements for which there are no enforceable correlative duties on anyone.
One wonders
whether the primary education scenario of Andhra Pradesh substantiate such an approach. The
language of rights does not have the technology for its access In whatever way one looks at it,
the fact remains that every second child in Andhra Pradesh is today denied right to education in
whichever sense the right is perceived or articulated
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in.
THERIGHT TO EDUCATION : THE TAMILNADU SC^NE
i amil Nadu covers an area of 1.4 lakhs Sq.Km and has a population of 56 million with a
ratio of 95 females for 100 males. Literacy rate among male is 75% whereas with females it is
52%. Ihe combined literacy rate is 64%. Among Scheduled Castes and Tribes the literacy rate
is only 30%.
Of the 23 Districts in the State, the disparities in terms of literacy and gender
equality are quite pronounced though they have slightly narrowed over the ye<.. s. Kanyakumari
district is at *he top with Madras and Dharmapuri remains at the bottom. There is a contiguous
low-literacy' belt consisting of the districts of South Arcot, Thiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Salem
and Periyar. Fhase are the bottom five districts in terms of literacy rate. Over one-third of the
total illiterates in the State reside in these districts.
Universal Elementary Education (UEE^ means universal provision of facilities, universal
enrollment and universal retention.
Universal provision of facilities, however, may not
necessarily ensure universal enrollment and universal enrollment may not guarantee universal
retention. Pioviding schools within easy reach everywhere does not guarantee equality in access
to education which can come only when facilities include universal supply of teaching/leaming
materials and maintenance of desired standards of quality instruction in all schools. Availability
of basic minimum of resources, academic-friendly management, adequate number of competent
and committed teachers and a relevant curriculum are other factors which go to make UEE a
reality.
While universal provision of above facilities may ensure liberty to exercise the right to
education, the real ability to avail oneself of the right, depend on many other factors such as
socio-economic conditions of a learner, educational background of parents and relevance of
education for livelihood of prospective learners.
Arcen to Education
In Tamil Nadu in 1997 there are 31,000 primary schools with 6.7 million children and
another 5,500 middle schools (upper primary schools) with 3.5 million children. Besides, there
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are 3,500 high schools wil’i an enr olment of 1.5 million children and ,700 high secondary level
institutions with 0.7 million children.
I’hore are primary schools all over the State near habitaiions v th population ol 5,000 and
above. Nearly 97% of all 1 ibitations in Tamil Nadu have schools vvi in one Km distance. Only
280 habitations in the State arc yet to have a school. Children living in hilly or forest areas and
children of migrant workers may still have problems of physical r cess because they need to
walk some distance (2 to 5 Kins) to be able to attend school.
'Hie number of teachers working in (he 36,500 primary and middle schools is around one
lakh and fifteen thousand of whom nearly 50,000 sire women. Tho teacher-pupil ratio is 1:40
both :it the primary and mb die levels. However, the teachers are not rationally distributed across
nil the schools. There are zs 60 schools wnfh single teacher and over f % of the schools have 2 to
4 teachers. While some schools have a teacher-pupil ratio
of 1 :0, there are other schools
which show the ratio as 1 J 50.
fa Primary E th*>-ation
Wastage in education includes not only dropping out and s ’gnation (repetition in same
class) but also non-nchieveinent of skills.
At the primary level (1-5 stage) the current drop-out rate is a* ound 15.5% while it is over
32% in the middle school (1-8 stage) level
It goes still further at the high school level (1-10
stage) which is as high as 65%. This means that less than one-fourth of children enrolled in
piinuuy schools roach th ■ tage of high school
Only
of thei11 reach the higher secondary
levels, 'inis is explained partly in terms of the fact that it is in the middle school stage that
children seek entering the labour market. The (hop out rate among girls is slightly higher than
boys in all stages though not significantly higher. However with S.(?. students, the drop out rate
at primary level is double that of combined rates for other comnirniities. There is evidence to
suggest that initiatives like noon meal scheme and free book supply did reduce drop out initially
and any further reduction would be possible only by qualify improvement resulting in real
achievement of skilln whi h will {Tovide a bryie for further develops.ent. It is also noted that the
drc-D out rate increases the moment there are opportunities for child employment. It is reported
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thr.t T.-7dh the rb. *.!ing of w; He popei i .’cycling units in Coimbatore district, there was a sharp
increc.se in drop out among children as the industry employed children for collection and sorting
of wnofe puper before it is j ecycled.
According to on? shsdy in the State more than half the children in class 4 and 5 fail to
meet the basic requirements of literacy. A study done by World Bank (1994) show that the total
actficlement level (arilhma’ic, reading and language) is only 44% in Tamil Nadu and the State
ranks 12hl on this score. Two thirds of drop outs are doing so for reasons other than family
economic needs. Poor quality of education is largely responsible for this. Some of the factors
which contribute to this situation are :
uneven cnpnbihty ofteechers to cope with the syllnbns
iminteresting nnd dull teaching methods
inadequate in-sen-ice irmnjng of teachers
jHulii-ch?ss teaching arr! over-crowded class'??
poor inf; n.-rlruclm ?! f acilities
lack of involvement
lack of academic supervision and monitoring etc.
The situation m respect of quality is said to be as. alarming ns in Kerala and A.P. despite
several Central and State sponsored schemes to correct the decline.
While enrolment figures for the Strife ?re satisfactory (95% of all children in the age
group of 6-11), statistics reveal flint nearly 22% children (nearly 3 million children) sre out of
school in the age group of 5 >14.
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Hie l>mil Nadu Compulsory Elementary Education Act, 1994 is a pioneering effort to
put (he right to education of every child in th? State on a statutory footing. This should make
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access more real by corrpolling the State to start schools within reasonable distance of every
ham!;.* and to appoint adequate number of teachr-rs in each one of th m. However in respect of
retention and r.chievement, the strategies are yet to be developed. The coercive measures have
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proved to be counter prodo.dive beyond r point <’nd ns ruch, qualify improvement has to receive
greater attention in future. Given the fact that at present only 44. b of children alone at the
primary stage have achieved the minimum level of learning, the task appears to be formidable.
The DPEP programme is a modest attempt in this direction.
]• owever, the thrust of the
programme being on infl a-structure development, curricular re for? i and teacher training, the
impact on quality improvement cannot be ascetiahied immediately.
There is a view that even elementary education is highly centralised which takes away
local initiatives and invol vement.
planning and adminisbaticn.
Even DPEP is not district based in respect of curriculum
There is over-bmcaucratisnfion and top-down abroach which
makes the individual teacher not central to child development. Monitoring and evaluation by
bureaucratic machinery ir not facilitating but iuHbiting quality development Domination of
politicians and bureaucrats in education is not conducive to quality ontrol. Academic freedom
at the school level has de
iorated to freedom not to teach; it is r ot available to experiment,
innovate and comrnunicat? in ways considered appropriate by the individual teacher.
If
ediicfdional services were to cover henlth. mitritioiL sanitation, drinloo.g water, building facilities
and transport, how is it to be co-ordinated vt the school level.
institutions alone cm
Perhaps only Panchayat raj
primary7 education facilities in an ePicient way. This calls for
substantial administrative reforms in the ehment-ny education sector. Local teachers and control
of local pnnehaynts con deliver better results in terms of quality and achievement
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IV.
RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN KARNATAKA
Kamaiaka is a Stale with an area of 1.9 lakh Sq.Kms and apopulalion of 45 million. The
literacy rate in the State is 67% in the case of males and 44% in the case of females. 'Ihere is
wide disparity in literacy rates when urban population is compared Io rural or South Karnataka is
compared to Noith, or SC/ST population is compared to other communities.
Educational Profik
There are about 6 million children enrolled in the School System and another 4.5 million
children are out of school. The total number of children of school going age in the State is a
little over 10 million. Tie maximum number of children in school is of the ago group 6-11 of
whom 82% are in Government schools and 18% in private schools. The school structure consists
of four years of lower primary, three years of upper primary and three years of high school or
secondary school education. Karnataka is yet to adopt the 5 t.3 12 pattern of school education
recommended by the 1986 National Policy on Education.
'The drop out rate as usual is the lowest in the lower primary level (16.5%) and far higher
in the upper primary level (43*%).
So much so. only less than half the number of children
enrolled complete Class V. The “push and pull factors'* are said to be responsible for this
phenomenon, push factor being inadequate or irrelevant learning provided and pull factor being
economic hardship.
The total number of schools in the State in l996-’97 is a little over 50,000 of which
46,000 are primaty schools (23,000 lower primary and 23,000 upper primary).
Schools are about 5,000.
The High
77% of the primary schools and 87% of the middle schools0 are
reportedly having reasonably good physical infra-stnicture by way of buildings, toilet and
drinking water facilities etc. Tiere is a school practically in all rural habitations in the State
within a distance of 1 Kin.
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There me nearly 1.8 lakh teachers in the School System in Kar nahika.. The tfianbrnz-piiptl
ratio is about 1:42 (hough it varies between 1:28 in ('hikmangalur an<; 1:53 in Bangalore. About
35% of teachers in primary schools are women and it is noticed that enrolment of girls increase
with increase in the number of lady teachers. There are very few single teacher schools. On an
average there are 3.6 teachers per Government School and 8 teachers per aided school and about
5 teachers per unaided school at the primary level.
About 22% of the State budget is spent on education of which nearly 52% is on primary
education alone (lower and upper levels).
As? in Hinny other Stales, the State manifests low achievement levels for students of the
primary classes, t his is the major reason for lii^h rate of drop out as well. Whether in terms of
content of syllabus or in terms of methods of teaching, the system does not provide even the
minimum prescribed levels of learning. MLL consists of a list of basic abilities which every
child should acquire after a certain number of years in school.
There are number of schemes introduced from time to time for increasing access,
retention and achievement. Some of them are sponsored by Central Government while others
are by the Slate itself It included nutrition schemes, scholarship and cash incentives, providing
better training and inira-sti uctural facilities etc. Many schemes were not sustained after its initial
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duration. The schemes did not reach all sections entitled to the benefits under them.
Hie Kai natal; a Primary Education Act, 1961 compels parents to send children to school
unless there are “reasonable excuses'*. It was replaced by Karnataka Education Act, 1983 which
provided for free and compulsoiy schooling upto Standard IV for children of age 6-11. The
Karnataka Compulsory Primary Education Rules under this Act were notified in 1996. The Act
expects the local bodies to come up with schemes for the implementation of the Act. The Act
provides for penalties to (he parents and employers for not sending their school going age
children to the school.
Poverty, need to help parents etc. are legitimate excuses for non-
attendance under the Act 3 he enforcement is will) Attendance Authorities to be notified by the
Government Generally BDO at the Taluk level and Headmaster at school level are notified as
Attendance O fl i c era.
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Hie Kniiinlnka b/lucational Institution ((.’lassificntion. Regulation and Prescription of
Curricula etc.) Rules, 19f)5 deal willi matters’ peitaining to the regulation of the facilities to be
available with schools, admissions, fee collection in private schools etc. The Grand-in-Aid Code
lor Primary Schools provides the criteria for providing grant-in-aid to schools managed by
private bodies.
I he Karnataka High Court in 1998 ruled that right to education being a Fundamental
Right,tho State Government is under an obligation to re-imburse the educational e?rpenditure of
the children studying in private schools upto the age of 14 years.
There are many isniies being debated ns to what constitutes the content of the right. At
present it appears (hat free education is intended to mean only exemption from paying tuition fee
ami not entitlement for support in respect of related educational costs. The State Government
keeps the discretion to notify the Act in relation to particular areas where primary education is to
be compulsory. Inis leaves out large paits of the Stale from (he compulsory application of the
provisions and consequent obligations ofthe Stale.
A legal framework which is fiagmentary and incomplete, policies which are seldom
se: rously taken because of lack of political will and commitment of resources to support them,
find schemes which keep on coming and going according to the fancy of the ruling parties have
no! provided the climate for taking right to education seriously either by the parents or by the
Govuinment. Existing schemes are over-bureaucratic with a long gap between promise and
peiTonnance. Quality inqmovement is largely paper plans cud are driven mostly by finances
available from outside sources. The child labour market is continuing with vigour.
I v/o systems of education, one for the rich which is qualitatively superior and another for
the poor where becan.se of lack of quality and relevance, children chop out of’education, co-exist
in tl ? State. Added to this is the continuing controversy on the medium of instruction at the
scn-jol level.
While the official policy is to allow only Kannada medium schools, English
medium schools arc growing by leaps and bounds. A number of good schools started in tile
private sectoi when? education is costlier tb.an even of Universities have started attracting
-ds oven from neighbouring flute::. I hose with boarding facilities attract children ofNRIs
- 17 o
in large numbers; so much so, in Karnataka it is said that education is an industry prospering
with official patronage.
It is interesting to note that most litigations in the Supreme Court
pertaining to education had their origin in Karnataka where educational enterprise has assumed
commanding heights of the entire range of educational spectrum. The bright side of the situation
is that given political will, Karnataka is better poised than all other States in the South, to make a
meaningful break through on the implementation of right to education in the foreseeable foture.
o
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PROBE REPORT ON STATE OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Pablk Report on Basic Education (1998) : (A Perspective
from Northern States)
One of the latest reports on status of school education in India is from a group of
researchers published recently by the Oxford University Press and released by Prof Amartya
Sen. Instead of relying on official statistics, the PROBE team claims to have directly spoken to
school children, including dropouts and their parents. It is said to be the result of extensive field
work in more than 200 randomly selected villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. These States together account for 40 per cent of the country’s
population and more than half of the out of school children
The report is summarised here because it provides contrasts not only between South and
North prids of India on facets of elementary education, but also questions many Resumptions and
theories for the disappointing situation obtaining in the country despite laws, policies and
allocation of resources for Universal Elementary Education by Central and State Governments.
The report challenges, inter alia, the following “myths” :
(a) poor parents are not
interested in sending their children to school; (b) most out of school children don’t attend
school because they have to work; and (c)
elementary education is free.
PROBE team
reportedly found parents inxmriably wanting their children io get good education, though they
attach .greater importance to the education of sons rather than daughters. Most parents have no
faith in the ability of the school to impart good education.
The magnitude of child labour,
according to them, is vastly exaggerated. In fact only a small percentage of children of school
going age are full time labourers. The report does not believe that there is a direct link between
child labour and the phenomenon of drop outs.
It suspects that most children take up
employment after they drop out of schools for a variety of reasons, rather than the other way
round - that children don't go to school because they have to work.
- 19 -
There is no such thing as an absolutely free schooling.
It may be that government
schools do not charge admission or tuition fees. But it does not mean that for educating children
at the elementary level, parents have not to incur any expenditure. The report finds that the costs
involved coupled with the quality of schooling the child obtains dissuades parents of poor
families in sending their children to school. According to the report, parents spend more than
Rs.300 a year per child tor maintaining her in primary schools. If there are several children of
school going age it is indeed a serious problem for poor families. Still children do go to school
in scanty clothes and with depleted school bags”. The report confirms some of the worst
impression about school education in terms of quality, gender disparities, regional variations,
poor pupil-teacher ratio, poor infra-structirral facilities, unimaginative teaching material and lack
of public and political commitment to universal elementary education.
Some of the other points raised in the report in the context of education being treated as a
fundamental right are :
1.
If the »ight to elementary education is to become a reality, a massive effort is required to
bring the schooling system in line with this goal. And as things stand, there is little sign
of such an effort being undertaken.
2.
The successful universalisation of elementary' education depends on the positive
involvement of teachers, parents and other members of the community. Whenever a
teacher absconds from the classroom, or a parent withdraws a child from school 'or an
employer exploits a child labourer, the fundamental right to education stands violated.
Upholding the right is, ultimately, a social responsibility.
Learning to read mid write can do a great deal to liberate children from the tremendous
sense of powerlessness expressed bj' illiterate persons in modem society. Children often
benefit from associating with other children in a learning environment, even when the
content of teaching activities themselves is of limited interest.
The socialisation
experience in school has much greater educational value than the formal curriculum.
4.
Schooling is not the only means of acquiring education, but the two are closely linked.
Right to education is usually understood in terms of a certain number of years of
- 20 -
schooling (eg. eight years according to the standard understanding of Article 45).
Education, however, is more than schooling and a lot of schooling activity has very .itu..
to do with education.
In most literature, ‘education’ is equated with ‘literacy’ though literacy is just one of the
5.
skills attained through education. Literacy rate is an indicator oi the levels oi educational
achievement. Free, compulsory education cannot therefore be limited to ‘total literacy .
Education for all was a much broader social goal.
6.
Teachers are the key actors in the village school. Them skills are vastly under-utilised
because of a demotivating work environment and lack of accountability.
Apart from the many ‘myths’ which surround the debate on elementary education in
India, the. Report identifies four facts which plague UEE :
Firstly, elementary education remains far from universal.
Half of the count!y s
population was unable to read and write. Less than 30 per cent oi. all adults had completed eight
years of schooling.
One third of ail children aged 6-14 years (about 23 million boys and 36
million girls) were out of school. 'Urns, only a small minority of the population has attained the
constitutional goal of eight years of schooling.
Secondly, educational achievements are highly uneven. Literacy rates, for example, vary7
a great deal by region, class, caste and gender. Literacy rates tend to be higher in South and
Western India than in North or Eastern India.
Bib.ar, M.P., LLP. and Rajasthan are the worst
performers where majority of children in the 10-14 age group are illiterate.
Within a given
region, literacy rates are usually lower among those who are economically under privileged, SCs,
STs and Muslims. Another crucial problem is that literacy rates are much lower tor women than
for men in most regions.
Thirdly, the poor state of elementary education is largely a reflection of State inertia in
the form of under provision of education facilities, inadequate supervision of the schooling
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system, neglect of disadvantaged regions and communities. Most of the schemes like Total
Literacy Mission, Operation Black Board, DPEP etc. are of ad hoc nature and at best of
supplementary character.
Two significant reasons for lack of quality in elementary education brought out by
PROBE team are lack of teacher accountability and gaps in educational management.
The
available mechanisms of accountability are weak in practice. For example, teacher promotions
are based on seniority rather than performance. Transfer and punitive measures are resisted
successfully by teachers’ organizations. Inspection system has no follow-up action. Supervision
by head teacher is ineffective as in some cases head teacher himself may be non-accountable.
Concern for reputation seem not to bother many teachers any more. With a diluted work culture
and subversive political connections, there is no effective system of peer group pressure. With
little power left with parents or local communities, there is little that communities can do to
make teachers accountable. An over-centralised administration makes the problem still more
difficult.
Teachers have lot. of political clout because of the size and strength of their
organizations and the statutory membership given to them in the upper houses of State
legislatures and panchayat raj institutions. They
had many strikes and agitations which had
in the past substantially reduced the number of days available for teaching. The agitations were
mainly on the issue of salaries and woik conditions. The report of the National Commission on
Teachers (1986) does not shy away from mentioning this problem (p.71); “we must invite
attention to the need to promote actively parents’ organizations all over the country.... We feel
that such organizations are desperately needed to promote and safeguard the educational interests
of their wards and to counteract the negative and unhealthy political pre-occupations of some of
the teachers and their organizations”.
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FUTURE OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION
The picture that emerges on
the status of implementation of the right to free, compulsory
primary education from the NLSIU survey of South Indian States and from the study of PROB^
North Indian States is one of lack of political will on the part of ruling and opposition
team in
parties, public apathy or indifference, over-bureaucrafisation and centralisation of the
management apparatus, poor supervision of performance and non-accountability on the part of
teachers, slow progress towards universalisation and fast deterioration of levels ot achievement
of students in primary classes.
The introduction of the 83H Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha by the
National Front Government in July 1997 showed some promise of brighter future for the
realisation of the goal of:free, compulsory primary education for all children. It seems to be out
of the agenda now. State legislatures have been promulgating primary education laws though the
legal fi-amework fell short of putting in place the required mechanism to realise the goal.
Lack of funds is always an excuse for governmental inaction towards implementation of
the Constitutional obligation. Over 95 per cent of the available funds go in salaries of teachers
and staff with little left for quality improvement and infra-strncture development. Lot of funds
are spent in special schemes and programmes the impact of which is noted more in official
statistics than in ground realities. It is not a story of inadequate number of schools or teachers
though there is still scope for further improvement in this sphere too. The real problem is the
inability of the system to provide a level ofcducation which will enable the children to develop
abilities to live life with dignity. Committees appointed by the Department of Education of the
Government of India estimated that implementing the fundamental right to education would
require an additional annual expenditure of around 0.5 per cent of India’s GNP over the next five
years. This means the resource requirement for free, universal primary education will cost only a
marginal increase over the current levels of expenditine.
Explaining the implications of the proposal to make elementary education a Fundamental
Right, the Committee of State Education Ministers (Saikia Committee) in 1998 proposed that a
- 23 State-wise approach in regard to free education should be adopted in keeping with the local
requrrements and constraints. However, in order to ensure uniformity, free elementary education
should mean exemption from tuition fee, provision of free text books for all primary school
children, provision of essential stationery to all children and mid-day meals programme. State
Governments may provide other incentives such as free school uniforms, cash incentives,
scholarships etc. in accordance with their economic capacity and priorities.
(According to
National Sample Survey Reports (52^ Report) only 77 per cent of the primary school children
get free primary education - meaning no tuition fee is paid to the school by the students. Only
35 per cent of children in primary schools receive free/subsidized books, 5 per cent receive
free/subsidized stationery and mid-day meal is available only to 25.9 per cent of the students.
Only 3.9 per cent of the students get financial incentives/scholarships). State should delegate
authority and decentralise management of elementary education to local bodies in urban and
rural areas in consonance with the spirit of the 73'd and 74,h conshtuhonal amendments.
The Saikia Committee recommended certain basic educational facilities, which if not
provided may become justiciable on the right becoming a fundamental right. These include (a)
at least two rooms when enrolment is less than 100 with verandha and separate toilet facilities for
boys and girls; (b) at least two teachers for 100 students; and (c) essential teaching/learning
material for Rs. 10,000/- per school.
For Upper Primary School, it was
guideline should be at least one room for each class, a headmaster-cum-office
grants of Rs.1,000/- per annum, library facilities and study equipment
proposed that the
room, contingency
costing Rs.40,000/- per
school.
The Committee was of the view- that the primary responsibility to promote elementary
edncatwn should remain with the State Governments winch should authorise local bodies to raise
revenue (educational cess) for improvement of facilities in schools.
Hrs Central and State
Govenmients should allocate 5^o of budgetary allocations for education to elementary
education and ensure that the funds are not diverted to any other sector. The requirement of
additional finances are tentatively estimated to be Rs.40,000 crore. The Committee did see the
need for private participation in primary school education particular ly in remote and inaccessible
areas.
- 24 -
PRIMARY EDUCATION IN THE UNION BUDGET OF 1999-20-^
a
The Finance Minister in his Budget speech spoke about an Education Guarantee Scheme
with the aim of providing an elementary school in every habitation which does not have one
within a radius of 1 Km. Initially, the local community would provide the premises and select a
local person as a part time teacher. Teaching material and other assistance will be provided by
the Central and State Governments while Gram Panchayats will mobilise contribution from the
local community in cash and kind for running the school for at least two years after which it will
be upgraded on a permanent basis. 1.8 lakh such schools are to be started in the next three years
of the Ninth Plan.
I
-25-
TASKS BEFORE THE NG Os
It is for the Consultation Meeting to reflect on the prospects and strategies for realisation
of the right for every child in. the immediate future in the context of the above facts and
developments. What is lacking and where in UEE? What is available to whom and how good is
it? Does the right promise anything more than what obtains at present? If so, what more and
from whom? On whom does the obligations lie and are they justiceable? When do you say that
■
right to education is violated?
One of the objects of the Consultation Meeting is to seek the views ofNGOs on how
available information on educational entitlements should be presented for use by NGOs if a
Manual < n the subject were to be prepared. The Manual, it is assumed, should not only give the
lirtnre and scope of the right as it obtains today, but also suggestions on what it can comprehend
if ihe State and society are disposed to give it the status of a Fundamental Right. The Manual
hopefully would cany information on Policies, Institutions and Structures managing the system.
Resources and levels of Public Participation. The idea is to empower NGOs with information
and skill for effectively mobilising people to influence policies and decision making in order to
progressively take the right to its intended goal of Universal Elementaiy Education.
In short, the expectation is that discussion at the National Consultation Meeting would
reflect on not merely the content and status of right to education as it is today. More importantly
the meeting seeks to have inputs on strategies for legal information empowerment of individuals
and institutions towards achieving-better access to education for all and to ensure that education
imparted is of the kind that promotes “life with dignity”.
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