The Indian parliament has approved a landmark education bill which seeks to guarantee free and compulsory education for children aged between 6 and 14. India's Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal described the passage of the bill as "harbinger of a new era" for children to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
But my question is "how? ", What is the plan that government is making, how the bill will be incorporated by law?. Just passing the bill is not enough, government has to look things at the ground level, suppose I am a Villager living in one of the most remote areas of India and I have got no education till age of 6th, there is a private boarding school 80 Km away from where I live, So in which class I will be accommodated because i will be having more age then my fellow nursery students, Where I will be accommodated, Will Government be able to pay the high fees, Law says "Government will compensate the fee according to government school rate", how would be able to study with the rest of fee burden on me. On the contrary how will Government will be able to pay this huge amount. Currently 3% of GDP is being spent on education.
Any ways, the bill also ends widespread practices by which schools impose admission fees on parents to guarantee their children a place and bureaucrats enjoy discretionary powers on deciding who to let in.
However, Critics of the bill say, "It does not cover children below the age of six and therefore fails to recognise the importance of the early years of a child's development and also does little to address India's inequitable school system under which there are vast discrepancies between well-funded private schools and state-run schools with poor quality teaching staff and infrastructure".
Winding up the debate, the HRD minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, said the government would strive to ensure that a uniform standard of education along the line of Centrally-run institutions like Sainik schools is established in the country. The House also rejected by voice vote a number of amendments brought by Opposition members.
Stressing that it is the endeavour of the UPA government to ensure “qualitative education”, Mr Sibal said for the first time emphasis is being given for defining minimum infrastructure facilities for schools across the country. “ Wherever in India, all private schools must meet those requirements,” he said.
BJP member Mr Kirti Azad, however, said many of his queries especially on neighbourhood schools and vocational training had not been answered.
Why right to education in world?
• 75 million children do not have access to basic education
• 150 million children currently enrolled will drop out before completing primary education - at least two-thirds are girls and 2 of them could be on our picture right here!
• 776 million adults in the world are illiterate and never got an education
• The right to education means that all these people have been discriminated against and their rights have been violated.
• The right to education means that these rights-holders can stand up and that something can be done.
In my opinion Government has made a good swift move to achieve UN's goal as well as fulfilling the promise which UPA has made to the people of India, But the bill must be more clear and must be followed at the ground level.This bill is obviously the "Historic Opportunity" to provide a better future to children of the country as there was never such a landmark legislation in the last 62 years, since independence as said by Mr Kapil Sibal.