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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Manifestos of political parties lack serious attention to RTE Act
-Delhi RTE Forum Press Release

 

· Delhi RTE Forum condemns lack of serious attention to implementing the Right to Education Act in the Manifestos of major political parties.
· Delhi RTE Forum demands special attention to Elementary education in the state
· Demands proper implementation of the RTE ACT and expanding its scope to include children from 3-18 years.
· Held rallies across 80 bastis and 20 public places discussing RTE implementation in the state.
· Collects ONE LAKH Votes for education demonstrating the aspirations and demands for quality education among communities.

Delhi: Delhi Right to Education Forum[1] is appalled by the fact that major political parties have failed to evolve a comprehensive plan for effectively implementing the Right to Education Act and Rules in Delhi in their manifesto. While the parties talk about a few dimensions of the RTE, the manifestos failed to see the education scenario in toto and provide strategies to improve quality education and ensure the right to education Act in the state. The manifestos fail to provide strategies to ensure that ALL urban poor children will have access to the RTE.

The ‘Vote for Education' campaign of the Delhi RTE Forum collected ONE LAKH votes holding rallies across the state covering 100 places including communities in 80 urban poor localities and 20 public places demonstrating people's aspirations and demand for education and the need for URGENT and serious attention towards improving the quality of education in the state.

The campaign is pained to report back large scale violation of the Right to Education Act including lack of schools/ classrooms, inadequate pupil teacher ratio, lack of teachers, existence of corporal punishment, complete absence of SMC functioning, lack of awareness on Right to Education Act. Above all parents are not satisfied with the quality of education being provided in the schools.

In its travel across the state, the rally is witness to people's aspirations and demand for quality education for their children. In all places children reported the problems and lack of teaching in their schools. Their pain and anguish or voices are not reflected in the manifestos.

The Delhi RTE forum demands that both pre-school and school education be given its due importance in the development agenda of the state. There is urgency to extend the RTE Act to all children from age 3 -18 to provide equity and equal opportunity for ALL children in education. School availability and infrastructure needs to be increased and enhanced specially in the urban peripheries, unrecognized colonies, resettlement colonies and jhuggi-jhopri clusters and urban villages. They need to meet the needs of children with disability. Teacher availability and teaching times need better attention and monitoring for improved learning among children. Special attention is needed for migrant children, SC, ST children, Muslim children, children with disability, children engaged in rag picking, children whose parents are engaged in stigmatized occupations and children with disability. There is urgent need to address discrimination and corporal punishment in schools. The private sector in education needs to be regulated with respect to recognition process, fee structures and curriculum. The distance criteria of 1 km for admission under 25% reservation needs to be removed and laadly scheme extended to all girls regardless of their birthplace. We appreciate the promise by AAP to enact new law to control profiteering by private schools by introducing fee regulation in schools.

Party manifestos are silent about setting up of School Management Committees (SMCs) and providing adequate budgets for the schools to effectively implement RTE or the implementation of SCSP, TSP or MsDP to reduce inequalities between them and other children. We appreciate the Congress, BJP and AAP for recognizing the need to open new schools in the state. Currently Delhi has the lowest ratio of schools per 1000 child population in the country. The promises of creating more posts for teachers and ending the contractual systems are also a welcome step.

The Congress claim of Delhi rated as the best in the implementation of RTE Act only shows how the Act is being abused both in the state and nationally.

The Vote for Education Campaign was initiated by RTE Forum to raise issues of education during the Delhi State Elections. The campaign has developed their asks into a charter of demands which looks into the issues of a) discrimination and exclusion, b) Equitable quality education, c) Stopping privatization of schools d) Ensuring community participation, e) Enacting Grievance Redressal Mechanisms and f) Allocation of Budgets and utilization

[1] The Delhi Right to Education Forum (Delhi RtE Forum) comprising of over 100 civil society organizations, School Management Committee(SMC) members, children and parents from across the state demand all political parties to commit to provide quality education and implement the Right to Education Act and Rules in letter and spirit.