Education for all
Right to Education bill although a thought in the right direction still has to overcome initial glitches

By Kannaki Deka
New Delhi, November 13: One of the plans of the Ministry of Human Resource Development is to complete its legislative agenda by introducing major reform bills — including the ones on the Foreign Education Bill, Education Malpractices and the setting up of an overarching body to govern higher education — in the coming Winter and Budget sessions of Parliament. The Right to Education Bill, one of the major reforms proposed by the HRD minister is an idea that has been welcomed by all, but debates about implementation and regulation of the Act at the practical level has also been doing the rounds. It also raises the question about what is the implication of such an Act for the private sector in education.

The Right to Education Bill, 2009, seeks to provide free and compulsory education to children aged between 6 to 14 years. The Bill seeks to achieve ten broad objectives which include free and compulsory education, obligation on the part of state to provide education, nature of curriculum consistent with Constitution, quality, focus on social responsibility and obligation of teachers and de-bureaucratisation in admissions.

Sushma Berlia, a leading woman entrepreneur and industrialist of the country spoke to Career Choices about the implications of the Right to Education bill, the difficulties regarding the implementation of the act and its effect on the private sector in school education. As vice-president of the Apeejay Education Society which runs 12 schools and 16 institutions of higher learning in India with more that 32,000 students on rolls, she has made outstanding contribution in the conceptualisation and standardisation of academic programs and curricula across in all its institutions.

“The right to education bill is not going to either hinder or obstruct the entry of the private sector in school education. In the current scenario the private sector far outweighs the public sector in providing school education. If you look at the entry issues into school education although there also there is a plethora of permissions and NOCs and all kind of things that you need to traverse, all said and done it’s not as bad as higher education. So having said that, private players have been getting into school education in great numbers, some recognised and some unrecognised.,” elaborates Berlia.

Personally she welcomes the act since it has clearly outlined the government’s responsibility and role in ensuring education for all. “But I see certain issues there particularly in terms of implementation because many things have been left on the table, so to speak, as an open question. Particularly we need to remember that this has to be implemented by the states in order for it to be effective”, she adds. She emphasises on the need for an effective mechanism for monitoring, regulating and ensuring that the thoughts which are there in that bill to ensure that school education is put into place and that quality is ensured.

But it is in working out the details of implementation, such as, how the issue of shortage of teachers will be dealt with that Berlia thinks lies the real problem. Human resource from that point of view is critical, according to her. She feels that our B Ed college system has to be totally re-looked in order for the act to work out smoothly. “It is in a good direction and the thought process is good but unless they work out all these issues and unless they put together a body of supervision and implementation which represents the key stake holders and a path towards that, we are going to have a problem”, states Berlia.