Right to Education Bill

The bill, in essence Every child between the ages of 6 to 14 years has the right to free and compulsory education –86th Constitution Amendment Act added Article 21A –The right to education bill seeks to give effect to this amendment The government schools shall provide free education to all the children and the schools will be managed by school management committees (SMC) Private schools shall admit at least 25% of the children in their schools without any fee

Timeline 1950: Constitution of India contained Article 45, as one of the directive principles of State policy, which states that: –"The State shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years" 1968: First National Commission for education under Dr. Kothari submits its reports. –Introduced several far-reaching changes as uniform curriculum for boys and girls –mathematics and science as compulsory subjects etc. –It also proposed a Common School System.

Timeline 1976: Constitution amendment making education a concurrent subject (responsibility of both state and center) was passed. 1986: National policy on Education (NPE) endorsing Common School System (CSS) was formulated. –Subsequent NPE’s endorsed CSS but it has never been implemented. 1993: The Supreme Court in the case Unnikrishnan vs State of Andhra Pradesh ruled that the right to education is a fundamental right that flows from the Right to life in Article 21 of the Constitution.

Timeline 1997: Constitution Amendment making Education a fundamental right was introduced. December 2002: 86th Constitution Amendment added Article 21A –“The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age six to fourteen years in such as a way as the State may, by law, determine.” –The 86th Amendment also modified Article 45 which reads as “The state shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of 6 years”. October 2003: A first draft of the legislation envisaged in the above Article, viz., Free and Compulsory Education for Children Bill, 2003, was prepared and posted on in October, 2003, inviting comments and suggestions from the public at large.

Timeline 2004: Subsequently, taking into account the suggestions received on this draft, a revised draft of the Bill entitled Free and Compulsory Education Bill, : CABE committee report constituted to draft the Right to Education Bill submits its report. June 2005: The CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) committee drafted the ‘Right to Education’ Bill and submitted to the Ministry of HRD. MHRD sent it to NAC where Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was the Chairperson. NAC sent the Bill to PM for his observation.

Timeline July 2006: The UPA government decides to drop the Bill –Formulates a Model Bill –Suggests that individual states pass that as a legislation and implement

Why did the govt. drop the bill? Main reason was no money! Some Instances of Central Government spending: In the year an additional Rs. 5,010 crore was collected through the 2% education cess for funding universal basic education, but only Rs.2000 crore extra was spent for the purpose. The funds given in form of corporate subsidy (in terms of lost revenue generation) through the SEZ bill (which was passed in 2005) stands at Rs.90,000 crore as per finance ministry of India. Government has allocated Rs. 9,320 crore in for National highway Development Program (NHDP). Government has promised to spend an additional Rs.20,000 crore (estimated) on increasing seats in higher education institutions over the next three years.

What would it take to fund the bill? What would it take to fund this bill? –The CABE report suggests that the implementation of the Bill will require an additional amount between Rs 3,21,000 crore and Rs 4,26,000 crore over six years –That is an annual average of Rs 53,500 crore to Rs 72,700 crore in addition to the Rs 47,100 crore that is being spent on elementary education currently ( ). –The amount budgeted to be raised by the Education Cess in is Rs 6,875 crore, and assuming this grows at the nominal GDP growth (assumed at 9% by the CABE Committee for its calculations), it would cover just 15-20% of the additional requirement. This would imply an estimated increase of 6.4%-8.5% to the central government’s annual budget. UPA Govt.’s Common Minimum Program guarantees to spend 6% of GDP on Education This Bill requires 1.1 to 1.4% of GDP to be spent on elementary education

Background, this year The HRD Ministry's working group (WG) draft was sent to the concerned Ministries around February 26 Women and Child Welfare sent in its formal approval soon since the WG draft had made the National Commission for Child Rights (NCPCR) as the overseeing institution The Finance Ministry approval followed by mid-March The Law Ministry had many objections, including references to 'compulsion on the state' and the HRD Minister had to meet with the Law Minister and this ensured that the budget session of the Parliament deadline was missed The Law Ministry finally sent in the formal draft on 8th July that retains the free and compulsory education objects, the quality related chapter on content and process and a better mandatory schedule (some of the items that were to be 'prescribed' in the WG draft - like playground, boundary wall etc have also been made mandatory). But they have continued to refuse to use the term 'equitable education', insisting it is not justiciable.

Introduction in the Parliament UPA govt. survives confidence vote –PM in his speech after the vote talks about making the RTE bill a legislation Bill not referred back to HLG, instead goes to the Cabinet, for approval for introduction to the parliament (24 th July) Will be discussed in the Cabinet meeting on 31 st July

Key points of contention Draft has the 25% neighborhood clause –Which means private schools also have to take in 25% students from their neighborhood –Govt. to pay for this (mandated) Original Common School System had this at 100% –Which would nearly eliminate private schools (by making them no-fee schools) Govt. (politicians, bureaucrats, private school lobbies) hate this clause Some draftees of the Bill (led by Anil Sadgopal) don’t like the diluted 25% version and are proposed a re- amendment to the 86 th amendment

Key points of contention Neo-liberal ideology –Spending on universal primary education is wasteful Fear of endless litigations Curb on EGS centers and para-teachers in SSA Dilution of merit with the 25% quota Allowing legal status to the community through SMCs Mandatory schedule Ban on capitation fee and admission tests of any kind Threat to central elite schools like KV Navodaya Overwhelming support on all this from private school lobbies, conservative middle class opinions, corporate media, elements within political parties

AID Resolution (July 2006) “AID Bay Area chapter extends its support to the right to education campaign. We demand the Government of India address the following demands of the campaign” Abide by its constitutional obligation; Recognize the importance of elementary education; Present the Right to Education Bill in the Indian Parliament; Provide for Free and Equitable Education; Make Right to Education Enforceable and Justiciable; Provide space for public feedback and criticism; Provide for Timely Implementation of the Bill;

What can you do now? Support the introduction of the Bill by signing a petition ( /fax) at: – Volunteer to help in this campaign –Once the bill is decided to be introduced (on July 31 st ), we will have to campaign with all MPs to support this legislation