NEW DELHI: The enactment of the legislation to operationalise the Fundamental Right to Education has been further delayed, with the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) unable to arrive at a consensus on Thursday on the draft Free and Compulsory Education Bill.

This was indicated here by Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh while briefing mediapersons on a host of issues facing the education sector at the end of the first day of the CABE meeting. Maintaining that piloting the Bill in Parliament at the earliest was a priority for the Government, he said the draft legislation would be put up for wider consultations in view of some of the contentious issues raised during today's deliberations.

`Widen debate'

Mr. Singh said the Ministry had no intention of prolonging the debate, particularly since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi were keen on the Bill being tabled in Parliament at the earliest. "We just want to widen the debate for more inputs," Mr. Singh said. However, he refused to divulge details about the contentious issues.

The discussion apparently centred around the objections raised by educationist Anil Sadgopal who was a member of the CABE committee which drafted the legislation under the chairmanship of Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Kapil Sibal. Mr. Sadgopal said the report of the committee circulated among members was not what had been agreed to at the last meeting of the panel on June 5. He circulated a four-page note detailing the 15 "unauthorised changes made in the draft legislation."

Among other issues, Mr. Sadgopal said the unauthorised changes diluted the concept of Fundamental Right to Education and would result in the abdication of the State's constitutional obligation to provide adequate financial resources for elementary education. Mr. Sibal countered the charges made by Mr. Sadgopal and said his views were personal and not the majority view of the committee.

Forum for debate

When asked about the differences that had emerged within the committee entrusted with the task of drafting the legislation, Mr. Singh said it was a healthy sign, as CABE was a forum for debate and discussion. As for the CABE committee failing to factor in Mr. Sadgopal's views, the Minister said the majority view always prevailed in any such exercise.

Mr. Sadgopal was of the view that the draft legislation circulated to the full CABE on Thursday was quite similar to the one prepared by the National Democratic Alliance. He said it went against the "mandate received by the UPA Government for pursuing pro-poor policies." In particular, he wanted the Bill to include the concept of common school system advocated by the National Policy on Education back in 1986.

Besides the reservations expressed by Mr. Sadgopal, some members were in favour of a penal clause to act against those private schools which did not reserve 25 per cent of their seats for economically backward students. Others wanted parents to be penalised if they did not send their children to school. Both these issues have been hanging fire ever since Right to Education was made a Fundamental Right in 2002.

Second attempt

This is the second attempt in over two years at drafting the enabling legislation; the first effort was made by the NDA Government that had decided to make free and compulsory education to all children in the six to14 age group a Fundamental Right. Soon after the UPA Government took over, the CABE in its first meeting set up a committee under Mr. Sibal to draft a fresh legislation.

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