Members of the southern unit of Right to Education (RTE) Forum have urged the government to withdraw the Bill tabled in Parliament seeking amendment to Section 16 of the RTE Act which aims at bringing back the detention policy in school education system.
Regional consultation
In a resolution unanimously adopted at the first southern regional consultation on RTE, organised by the National RTE Forum and facilitated by Save the Children in Vijayawada, they alleged that it was an attempt to dilute the most progressive section of the Act through ‘backdoor’ methods. “This is an ill-conceived move aimed at victimising children from the marginalised communities such as Dalits, adivasis, the urban poor, persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged sections. We strongly demand that the government drop this Bill and create an enabling condition in the classroom,” said Ambarish Rai, convener, National RTE Forum.
The resolution demanded that the Centre allocate 6 % of the GDP and the State Governments 25 % of their respective budgets to ensure care, protection and equal right to quality education for all children.
The members said they would urge political parties to include ‘right to equitable quality education for all children’ in their political agenda in the 2019 elections.
Neighbourhood schools
Constitution of School Management Committees/School Development and Monitoring Committees in all schools to ensure effective implementation of the RtE Act, establishment of government-funded neighbourhood schools and ultimately move towards Common School System and to strengthen grievance redressal mechanism were among the other demands.
The resolution also called for effective measures to make all schools RTE-compliant, steps to stop closure of government schools in the name of rationalisation, put an end to privatisation and commercialisation of education, imparting adequate training on teachers to make the classroom space more interesting, timely supply of textbooks, uniforms and other learning equipment to students and improvement of infrastructure facilities in schools.
“Steps to regulate private schools is essential besides making them accountable by asking them to set up monitoring committees,” said Vikas Gora, general manager, Save the Children.