Towards a comprehensive education policy
NIRANJANRADHYA V.P.
|
Can a Bill rejected by the people be tabled in the Parliament?
|
Recently, the Human Resource Development Minister indicated the possibility of presenting the ‘Right to Education’ Bill in the coming parliamentary session. This move has stirred the sleeping discussion on the Bill. The historic Supreme Court verdict to make Education as a fundamental Right in Unnikrishana vs. State of Andhra Pradesh Case revealed that at every stage the ruling government/s failed to demonstrate the political will to ensure “equitable quality education” to all children until the age of 18. At every point the central government/s either disheartened the people by taking anti children and anti people positions on the issue of Right to Education or distorting the Constitutional commitment to provide quality education which was further unambiguously reiterated by the Supreme Court in 1993.
Reason for distrust
People have a reason to distrust government’s commitment to avail education as the fundamental right. Firstly, the central government/s took almost ten years to move an Amendment to the Constitution after the Unnnikrishanan Judgment in 1993 to provide the status of Fundamental Right to Education in the Constitution under part III.
Secondly, the much delayed 86th Constitutional Amendment Act 2002, not only diluted the Supreme Court verdict of 1993 but also reversed the aspirations of the people which was the product of historic freedom struggle embodied in the Constitution in the form of article 14,15(1) (3),24, 39(e) (f),45 and 46 which have direct impact on children and their education. Therefore, in essence, the 86th Amendment Act is the distorted version of people’s aspirations.
Thirdly, despite these not so positive alterations, the persons and organisations demanding a full-fledged Fundamental Right to Education, including me, compromised with the state and welcomed it with the hope that the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act would at least assure the Fundamental Right to “equitable quality education” to all children. But later on, the Central government made every attempt through the legislative process to dilute the 86th Amendment Act through a sub-committee constituted under the Central Advisory Board on Education(CABE) to place the Fundamental Right under non-justiciable rights.
The CABE sub-committee was never opened for people to have their say in the matter and failed to hear the voices of people.
When the bill was thrown open to the public by placing it on the website on August 8, 2005, it was rejected by the people and civil society organisations at the National Convention on Right to Education held on December 9, 2005 in New Delhi under the banner of People’s Campaign for Common School System. Many other campaigns and organisations working on school education too rejected the bill on the grounds that it was anti constitutional, anti children and anti people. This was followed by a memorandum to the Prime Minister to rewrite the bill.
Revised version
The Central government, instead, circulated the bill among all the States in 2006 as the model Right to Education Bill and the States were asked to enact legislations on its basis.
In fact, many States rejected the model bill which tries to shift the onus entirely on them though education is a subject in the Concurrent List. Further, in February 2008, contrary to its earlier position, the Central government constituted one more committee to re-examine the bill. The revised bill was not even opened for public debate. However, the revised version is merely old wine in a new bottle.
Given the history of the bill, any further attempt on the legislation front without a well-defined policy document would be a futile exercise.
But the mainstream political parties are much in favour of continuing the rhetoric for their own political gains.
The only option available for people is to urge the Centre to evolve a comprehensive policy to build a national system of education by way of a common school system on the lines of neighbourhood schools to ensure equitable, quality education before getting into legislative process.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Open Page
