The
Government of India passed the Right to Education Act (RTE) which recognizes
education as the fundamental right of every child. It makes provision for
compulsory and free education for children aged between 6 and 14 years. This
act also has provisions which compel private institutions to admit 25 percent
of the students from economically backward sections. Its legal validity has
also been upheld by the Supreme Court. This initiative by the government is
undoubtedly commendable but it lacks logic and has some serious loopholes.
As
I have mentioned, the act makes it compulsory to induct 25 percent of the
students from economically backward sections and no seats in that quota can be
left vacant. The schools will be subsidised at the rate of average per learner
costs in a government school. However, the policy makers have failed to take
into account that the government schools charge less as they lack basic infrastructure like library
and sports facilities. There is low attendance of the teachers in government
schools and the teachers are under paid. Also, government run educational
institutions enjoy various tax exemptions which private institutions are not
entitled to. This raises some serious questions on the basis at which subsidies
were decided?
Perhaps
the policy makers should have used the famous ‘Pareto principle’. It states
that the top 20 percent of the population contributes to the 80 percent of the
costs and the remaining/bottom of the population contributes to only 20 percent
of the costs. The more logical argument would have been charging only 20
percent of the fees from the economically weaker students. And this 20 percent
of the fees could have been subsidised by the Central/State government.
The second most important question that arises is the basis on which
the 25 percent reservations in private schools were decided. Why not 20 or 30
percent was selected. Was it selected on the basis of BPL data? The figure of
25 percent seems random.
The third important question is about exemption of minority run
educational institutions. The minority run educational institutions have been
exempted from this Act. Now, what is the definition of a minority run
institution? Is it decided on the basis of religion? If it is decided on the
basis of religion then what about the educational institutions run by sub-sub
Hindu castes. The Hindu High School in Madras, for instance run by miniscule
sub-sub Hindu caste people, by law, does not enjoy minority status.
The fourth important question is about the orphans. The stringent
provision of the law makes it compulsory to produce caste certificates, BPL
cards, birth certificates, etc. So how will the orphans arrange all this
certificates?
And the fifth important question is the about the availability of
funds. Estimates suggest that Rs. 171,000 crores or 1.71 trillion (US $ 38.2 billion) would be required in the next five years to implement the Act. With the increasing budget and fiscal deficit the government will find it difficult to make both the ends meet.
I am sceptical about the implementation and success of this Act until
and unless the above five questions are answered. I hope that the government
finds logical answers to the above questions and this Act is a grand success.
Information Source – Banking Services Chronicle (June Edition),
Wikipedia.