Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009

Numerous social thinkers and activists have found faults with the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

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The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has led to much heat and heartburn among city activists and intellectuals. The National Alliance of People's Movement and Lok Rajniti Manch along with the Asha Parivar shall be launching a public protest against the Act by staging a dharna opposite the state Assembly on Saturday.

 

Talking to TOI, noted social activist and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey slammed the Congress party for promoting an elite education system and social disparity. The Act will do nothing to abolish the chasm between the rich and the poor, he said. The government, he charged, has been systematically overlooking the recommendations made by the Kothari Commission decades ago, which suggested a system cutting across social barriers all over the country, he said

 

In developed countries like the USA etc, the concept of neighbourhood school is followed, which means that children from a particular locality go to the school situated in the vicinity, Pandey said. The arrangement rules out dual system, one for poor and one for rich, he explained. Moreover, this also ensures that high standards of academics are maintained consistently and all children benefit.

 

Hitting at the National Knowledge Commission as an elite body which seems to have been totally cut off from the ground realities and requirements, Pandey said that Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal, Sam Pitroda and Salman Khurshid are all for privatisation of education and the Act is a calculated step towards the same direction. The coterie is wilfully destroying government education so that private sector takes over, he said.

 

Why don't the children of rich and the privileged go to government schools?, Pandey asked, adding that till the time the children of IAS officers and political leaders don't go to government schools the disparity between public and private schools will continue.

 

Demanding a repeal of the Act, the activists will be marching down to the Vidhan Sabha bhawan to lodge a protest against the inequity and injustice.

 

Why: The Act maintains the inequity in education syetem between the rich and the poor which plants the seeds for discrimination further in life. The government has allowed its education system over the years by willful neglect to degenerate into a sub standard system with inadequte resuorces thereby letting private players to increasingly play a more visible role. The present Act further strengthens the privatization agenda.

 

Demand: The present Act must be repealed and a new Act must be brought into place which will implement the concept of common school system and the idea of neighbourhood school. The budget must be increased to 6% of GDP to ensure that adequate resources are made available for education for all.

 

Slogans: 'When the poor are 75%, why only 25% reservation for their children in private schools?'; 'Why don't the children of government officers and political leaders attend the government schools?'; 'Implement the Common School System'; 'Implement the Neighbourhood School concept'; 'Do away with a discriminatory education system'; 'Halt privatization of education'; 'Equitable equcation for all'.

 

Organized by: Asha Parivar, NAPM and Lok Rajniti Manch

 

For more information contact: Chunni Lal, 9839422521, Usha Vishwakarma, 9621116309, S.R. Darapuri, 9415164845

 

 

 

Posted by collective at September 21, 2009 03:04 AM