On the mess that is RTE..

Almost five years back in 2009, India enacted a “landmark” bill and created a new “Right” – the “Right to Education”. Normally a new “right” ought to be celebrated. But as columnist Meeta Sengupta wrote around the time, “..(this) should also..be a moment of pure fear, for we have made a commitment to something big, something we have never done before, something we have no idea of how to do.”

Her words – especially the part about “no idea of how to do” – were prescient.

Take, for example, the grand announcement that 25% of all seats (new admissions) in private schools will henceforth be reserved for children from disadvantaged groups and economically weaker sections (note that the quota is not exclusively for “economically weaker sections” but more on that later) and the government will bear the burden of this extra cost. Unfortunately, till date there is no clarity on how much exactly will the government pay – and for what? and crucially, when?

No wonder there are reports of private schools hiking the fees to cover the additional costs and in some cases, closing down unable to bear the burden – which is particularly ironic (and tragic) given that some of these schools were precisely the ones catering to the “disadvantaged” & “weaker” groups.

This BBC report mentions how, “..several states have been ordering non-complying private schools to close, shifting most of the children to government schools.”

Officials in Punjab said they closed 1,170 schools, Haryana shut 713, while Tamil Nadu closed “a little more than 400” and Andhra Pradesh “not more than 400″…. Baladevan Rangaraju, director of think tank India Institute, who has been monitoring media reports, has counted 2,692 schools shut and 17,871 at risk. He said states where schools were threatened with closure included Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi.

There is more to come..

“(Haryana Education Minister) Ms Bhukkal said a further 1,379 schools would be closed in Haryana after the end of the school year in March…Andhra Pradesh Minister for Primary Education Dr Sake Sailajanath said the state had closed schools with 10 students or less, and a further 800 would be shut this year….(Tamil Nadu Education official) Ms Kulkarni said a further 300 schools would be shut in the state this year….Delhi State Public Schools Management Association president RC Jain said roughly 300 schools still had to shut and 750 face closure.

As you can imagine, some have figured innovative ways to get around the legislation. One of the more popular tactic is to get yourself declared as a “minority” institution, which are exempt from RTE.  In India’s continuing narrative of victimhood, an easy way to free yourself of government control is to raise the fear of being burdened/bullied/harassed/oppressed by a “majority” and seek exemption from laws that are meant to be universal.

Unsuprisingly, you get situations like these: “Commenting on this mad rush of the schools (to seek minority status), president of unaided private schools of Rajasthan, Damodar Prasad Goyal said, “The institutions have been forced to go for minority status in a situation resulting from the recent judgment of Supreme Court. Many of these institutions will definitely take the advantage of minority status to get out of the ambit of RTE.”

The tactic of “Declare-Yourself-A-Minority-and-Free-Yourself-of-Government-Control” has been tried numerous times before and has succeeded – even by otherwise “Hindu” institutions” (See e.g. the remarkable case of  “Why Did The Ramakrishna Mission Say They Are Not Hindus”).

The government – ever so keen to ensure no one accuses it of “majoritarianism” – has been eager in dealing  with such requests. Thus in August 2012, “71 institutes in Kerala were granted minority status in a single sitting”. Read that again. 71 institutes, single sitting.

No wonder you also get distortions such as these:

“He cited the instance of an institute that had sought minority status on the ground that the promoter was a Sikh by birth, who had removed his hair and turban. When complaints and counter-complaints came about the institute, he said, all records were verified….

In some cases from Uttar Pradesh it was noticed that the promoters said they have converted to Christianity and in few other cases even to Buddhism. “ [source]

Vague guidelines and onerous restrictions means schools are finding it difficult to comply with the Act. No wonder that, “two years after the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) was notified by the central government, more than 95% of schools in the country do not comply with its guidelines, a study by an NGO has found.”

In India, inability to “comply” with the law brings in its wake (unsurprisingly) the fear of harassment & breeds the classic under-the-table kind of corruption .  Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Education group has gone on record saying: “The RTE will give power to school inspectors for enforcement, creating a source of harassment and corruption.”  Others have used stronger words: “RTE (actually)..declares war on education entrepreneurship”, says Manish Sabharwal, chairman of TeamLease Services.  He fears that the vague guidelines will result in giving block-level education officials “..the ability to convert every school into a personal ATM“

Let me now focus attention on a few insidious elements of the bill which have largely gone unnoticed (save for a few alert bloggers).

The first is the fact this is really not just about “Education for the Poor”. It is actually “Education for the Disadvantaged and the Weaker Sections” of the society.  In the absence of norms and guidelines about what exactly does this mean, this has been left open to interpretation. Different states and institutions have interpreted “Disadvantaged” and “Weaker” in their own different ways, most opting for a split of the 25% between these two sections.

The second, important, point: The act only applies to intake at Class I. What does this mean?  It essentially “…takes out 92% of school going children from availing the quota.”

And “what happens is if a family enters poverty or which missed the bus in class – 1”? Well, tough luck. Turns out “..if you are in Class II, no matter how poor you are, you cannot knock on a private school’s door. Once you get/sneak into class – 1, no matter what your status is afterwards, the poor class-2 student above cant take your seat.”

Do you see the perversity?  There is more: Boarding schools are exempt.

We have already discussed “Minority Exemption” which effectively “puts most of your big name schools out of the RTE ambit totally.” As an example, here is a brief list of schools from Jaipur that are exempt from RTE: “..Several schools of the city including Saint Anselm’s, Saint Xavier’s, Saint Angela Sophia School, Saint Soldier’s, Ryan International and other residential schools are already excluded from the RTE provisions.”

And the missing details. Details on how would the act address bottlenecks in delivery? or the acute shortage of dedicated, committed and qualified teachers? or what happens to the child after the age of 14? How does one identify whether s/he has actually received “education”? What would success mean in such a situation?

But almost all these points have gone largely unnoticed. And while, “Access to education may have become a right…access to education of choice and quality is clearly not a priority”. Unless that changes, not much will change.

I started this column with a quote from good friend Meeta Sengupta. It is apt I close this piece with her. She sums up the present situation eloquently: “The ship is doomed; we need a rescue flotilla”. Sadly, we continue to sail in blissful ignorance. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

Related Post: A short video with my thoughts on education policy (in Hindi).. and Article 30 and Religious Apartheid in Modern India.