HYDERABAD: If Government schools are to compete with private educational institutes, primary and pre-primary education needs to be emphasised upon, opined educationists in the city on Tuesday. In a scenario where the State Cabinet and Education Department was reportedly contemplating renaming the Secondary School level Madhyamika Abhiyan after the former Chief Minister, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, educationists feared that the hype surrounding the secondary course might eclipse “the right to primary education”.
As per the presently instituted Right to Education Bill that was passed recently, every child between the age of six to 14 has the right to free and compulsory education.
This is stated as per the 86th Constitution Amendment Act added Article 21A. The Bill, one of the flagship programmes in the 100-day agenda of the UPA government, seeks to give effect to this amendment.
Though the areas covered by the Bill extend to the management of government-run schools and provides for admission guidelines for private schools, the AP Save Education Committee insisted that the measures in the Bill are “inadequate”.
Incidentally, the Bill stipulates that Government schools shall provide free education to all the children and the schools will be managed by School Management Committees (SMCs). As far as privately run schools are concerned, the Bill recommends that they should admit at least 25 per cent of the children in their schools without any fee. In this regard, the National Commission for Elementary Education is supposed to monitor all aspects of elementary education including quality.
The AP Save Education Committee noted that while the first wave of protests for amendments to the Bill, organised at New Delhi has been completed, the organisation would be continuing with a set of district wise programmes to garner momentum against what they termed as a “flawed” judgement.
APSEC members noted that the response from the Centre so far was discouraging, “given the lack of consensus and awareness about the implications of the Bill.” Among the amendments suggested in the Bill, the APSEC noted that “the minimum age for compulsory education needs to go below the presently stipulated six years.” Additionally, members said that they would also push for extending the upper age bracket from 14 to 16, “in order to accommodate for secondary education.” The educationists demanded that while secondary education schemes like the Rastriya Madhyamika Siksha Abhiyan is likely to be pushed for in the Assembly, the move could come at the cost of impetus on primary education.
“The implementation of primary education is still questionable at many areas in the State, which necessitates stricter enforcement of education rights to citizens,” noted a member of APSEC.
With the recent fiasco of private schools fees barely having died down, members also noted that the issue of not including the issue of fee regulation of private schools in the Bill is likely to affect the educational condition in the country. “The Right to Education bill, if properly channelled to regulate the running of private schools would prove beneficial to students and parents affected by fee hikes in the country,” added an APSEC member.
The APSEC is comprised of retired educationists and civil activists and the organisation has been campaigning for equality in education in the State, and they would be starting off the campaign trail in the districts from September 19 onwards.