Right to education still a privilege for many

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Nearly six years after the Parliament made free and compulsory education a fundamental right for all children, the government is still struggling to figure out the appropriate mechanism to make the right a reality. A senior government official told FE that the Right to Education Bill is being held up, as there are problems with the allocation of funds to states under the government’s flagship education programme, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). The Centre is expected to use the SSA mechanism to implement the right to education law.

While the original Bill, drafted in 2003 to enshrine the right by legislation, was rejected last year after a long-winding process, the Cabinet last Friday deferred taking a decision on a re-drafted version of the law and referred it to a group of ministers (GoM). Apart from reworking the arithmetic formulae for allocating funds to states, the GoM may also ask the 13th Finance Commission to come up with a mechanism to ensure that states refrain from diverting plan funds to non-plan expenses like salaries and wages.

Despite the pending issues, the Centre is hopeful that the GoM would be able to resolve the issues in a couple of meetings and the Bill would be introduced in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

“The main issue is not availability of resources. Of course, it cannot be raised from Rs 13,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore within one fiscal — resources will be worked out gradually and increased every year. The real issue is proper allocation and distribution of funds so that the money reaches those who need it. The SSA lacks a proper framework to monitor the flow of funds,” an official involved in the process said.

Currently, under the SSA, a certain amount of money is allocated for all states irrespective of how much they want or if they want some money at all. “What is the point of allocating the same amount of money for well managed states like Tamil Nadu or Gujarat and poor states like Bihar and Chhattisgarh?,” the official asked rhetorically, hinting that the lack of a strategy for allocating funds is the reason for the SSA not living upto its potential, four years after implementation.