AK Sharma, former director of the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT), and currently the chair of the ?drafting group? set up by ministry of human resources development (MHRD) to provide the ?model rules? to go with the Right to Education Bill, says ?rules? will give the states direction and support the Bill specifically in clauses that say ?as may be prescribed?. Additionally, ?guidelines? will be provided to clarify certain terminology such as Clause 36, which says, ?No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against the central government, the state government… in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done, in pursuance of this Act, or any rules or order made there under?. In an interview with FE?s Malvika Chandan, Sharma talks about some of the definitions in the Bill that will need validation.
The Bill refers to every child having a right to free and compulsory education in a ?neighbourhood school?. What is the definition of ?neighbourhood school??
This is one of the most problematic issues in the Bill. In hilly areas neighbourhood for primary schools is within a kilometre?s vicinity, for upper primary it is 3 km and this definition does not apply to urban and other areas. To make this concept clearer and universal a two-step process needs to be undertaken. ?School mapping?, which scans every area for a demographic understanding of children?s profile to determine where and what type of a school needs to be set up, will be the first step. Next the definition will have to take into consideration the needs of private and government schools. Other complications include the fact that as per Clause 12 (b) a child is not entitled to free education unless admitted into a neighbourhood school. How ?neighbourhood school? concept will be made applicable to ?specified category? such as Kendriya Vidyalayas that have predefined categorisation for admission such as for transferable cadre of government employees will need to be established and unless the basic character of these schools is changed it is questionable how the neighbourhood concept will apply. The Kothari commission report in the 1960s had suggested a ?common school system? that would enable all sections of society to admit their children to the same neighbourhood school. The country drifted from this principle and has in fact become more class-based in the last 45 years.
Will the enforcement of the Bill support Amendment 73 and 74 of the constitution that seeks to decentralise education to involve the local panchayat level?
Although the amendment has been in place for a while its ?operationalisation? is at varying stages. Devolution of powers to the local panchayat level if done in the right spirit will help provide free and compulsory education to all. Administration of education, taking care of faculty absenteeism, disciplinary issues can all be done more effectively at the local or panchayat level versus the higher state level. I am reminded of my colleague RS Pandey who was secretary of NCERT and went on to be the chief secretary of Nagaland. He coined the phrase ?communitisation of education?, which in principle resonates with Amendment 73 and 74. Pandey took steps to execute this vision in Nagaland where he made an amendment to the treasury rules, which enabled transfer of funds for teachers? salaries from the state treasuries to local village education committees. Suddenly teachers who earlier disregarded the reprimands of the panchayat raj institutes for absenteeism and the like found that they were now dependent on these institutes for their salary and there was a remarkable improvement in their professional conduct as they were being monitored at the ground level. However, one has to be cognizant of the flip side of vesting the Panchayat with this power, which is nepotism and caste politics.
What is the prescribed medium of instruction for elementary education?
The Bill says that ?as far as practicable? it will be in the child?s mother tongue. However, this is not justiciable and also brings in the issue of consistency between public and private schools.