EDUCATION TOO DEMANDS THE ATTENTION OF PRIME MINISTER
Recently we saw a debate on Uniform Civil Code in the context of triple talaq with the Prime Minister saying that he can’t allow lives of Muslim women to be ruined. He said it is the responsibility of the government to get Muslim women their rights according to the Constitution. Narendra Modi has also said that his government believes in a permanent and lasting solution to the problem of Kashmir within the framework of Indian Constitution.
While Narendra Modi’s sympathy for Muslim women in laudable and we only hope that Kashmir problem will be solved one day, there is something more basic which demands the government’s attention and is easier doable than the two problems just mentioned.
The Indian Constitution initially as part of the Directive Principles and subsequent to the 86th amendment as a fundamental right guarantees free and compulsory education to children in the age group of 6-14 years.
The 17 member Indian Education Commission with another 20 international experts advising it, functional during 1964-66 under the chairmanship of Professor D.S. Kothari, the then chairman of University Grants Commission, came up with recommendation of a common public education system.
While there is a Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act in existence since 2009 it may not be very difficult to verify the veracity of ‘free and compulsory’ part of it as one ventures out into Indian streets or workplaces.
Even though Dr. B.R. Ambedkar wanted the right to education to be included in the Fundamental Rights of Constitution of independent India he had to be content to keep it as part of Directive Principles due to stiff resistance from the elite members of Constituent Assembly. It was in Unnikrishnan vs. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1993 judgment that the Supreme Court pronounced right to education as a fundamental right till the age of 14 years. Central Government appointed the Saikia Committee in 1996 to examine the feasibility of making elementary education a fundamental right. The committee recommended that free elementary education be made a fundamental right through a Constitutional amendment. Tapas Majumdar Committee was formed in 1997 to look into financial requirement for implementation of this idea. The same year 83rd Constitutional Amendment Bill was introduced but it faced opposition because it had diluted some of the provisions of right to education. For example, it restricted the right only to age group 6-14 years. A lot of changes in the government’s outlook towards education in this period took place due to interference of international financial institutions in the education policy. In particular, government’s commitment to the cause of universal elementary education was diluted and a clear shift towards privatisation was perceptible. The Bill was finally passed as 86th amendment in 2001. But the then government failed to get Free and Compulsory Education Bill passed in spite of making three attempts in 2003 and 2004 due to opposition. One of the objectionable provisions was to allow extra-Constitutional bodies to take over the education programme with no guarantee that they would work within the framework of Constitution. Finally during the Manmohan Singh government Kapil Sibal got an opportunity to draft a fresh Bill. Principles of equality of opportunity and social justice were ignored in his exercise. The draft presented in 2005 in the Central Advisory Board of Education was vociferously questioned by educationist Anil Sadgopal and others. Eventually another draft Bill was introduced in 2008 which became an Act in 2009. At least 25% children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections are entitled for free education from Class I to VIII in all schools now. But this is simply insufficient if all children in India have to have access to education of equitable quality. No government in history has been willing to fulfill its Constitutional obligation of providing resources necessary for universalisation of elementary education.
From the experience of countries around the world, the only way in which all children can receive equitable quality of education is when a common school system in put in place. The government is doing everything but this.
The question is what is more basic – a Common School System or a Uniform Civil Code? Is the misplaced priority of government deliberate? Can Narendra Modi allow the lives of half the children in India to be ruined? A government which considers Constitution sacrosanct when it comes to resolving the problem of Kashmir doesn’t give a hoot to it when its basic provisions are violated in implementation of fundamental right of children. When will the children of India get their Constitutional right?
Quite clearly political expediency determines when the sanctity of Constitution is to be invoked and when it is to be junked.
The government has launched a skills development programme. But how does it expect the youth who’re uneducated, under-educated or ill-educated, having passed their examinations using unfair means, a widespread practice, to develop any useful skills to contribute to the national economy? A country which aspires to be a world leader cannot do so on the basis of poor and substandard state of education of its population. All countries which have progressed have done so on the foundation of sound education and health state of their citizens.
The Prime Minister has a habit of going and spending his time on important festivals at the border to boost the morale of our soldiers. He’ll do a favour to the Indian education system if he visits the government run schools of the country and motivates the teachers and students in classrooms. Nationalism is not just going and expressing solidarity at the border. It is also a national duty to ensure that every child is in school.
By Sandeep Pandey
A-893, Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016
Ph: 0522 2347365, M: 9415022772 (Arundhati Dhuru)
e-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com
