The Indian constitution has clauses aimed at guaranteeing that every citizen receives an education from the state. When the Indian constitution was first passed, education was designated as a state subject. Education was become a concurrent list subject in 1976 when an amendment to Article 42 of the constitution was added, giving the federal government the authority to enact laws that are appropriate for the subject. In addition, India has ratified a number of international agreements, including the UNCRC, MDGs, Dakar Declaration, SAARC SDG charter for children, and the Jomtien Declaration, all of which bind the country to the goal of ensuring that all children have access to education.

Almost eight years after the Constitution was changed to include education as a fundamental right, the Indian government began enforcing a rule on April 1, 2010, mandating that all children between the ages of six and fourteen get free, compulsory schooling.

Parliament ratified the 86th Amendment to the Constitution in 2002, establishing education as a basic right. Parliament passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act last year in order to facilitate the implementation of the fundamental right. The new law and the constitutional amendment both went into effect on April 1, 2010.

The new law requires state and municipal governments to guarantee that every child receives an education in a neighbourhood school.

The Issue of India's Performance of School Education

Once more, India is ranked 105th out of 128 nations in the UNESCO-published EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010–11. And it still ranks among the nations with the lowest educational development index (EDI), along with the majority of African nations and one or two Asian nations, like Bangladesh and Pakistan. India lagged behind a number of emerging nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in 2007. These nations—Kenya, Ghana, Bhutan, Zambia, Maldives, and Cambodia—have lower economic standing than India. India is only behind a score of nations, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Burundi, Madagascar, Laos, Malawi, and Niger.

In India, just 66% of students enrolled in Grade I graduate to Grade V; that is, up to 34% of students enrolled in Grade I drop out before graduating. Most likely, they leave school without making any progress toward learning the fundamentals of literacy, which adds to the number of children who are not in school, the number of children who work as children, and the overall population's lack of literacy. Most medium- and high-EDI countries have survival rates exceeding 0.9. In the case of India, a 90–95% net enrolment ratio would be meaningless if the dropout rate is 34%.

To what extent are our elementary schools outfitted? There are only three classrooms and three instructors per primary school in India, on average, according to Flash Statistics and Analytical Reports on Elementary Education in India (District Information System for Education, issued by the NUEPA in 2009–10). A single classroom makes up about 14% of all schools, while single-teacher schools make up a comparable percentage. Thirty percent of the schools have a teacher-to-student ratio higher than the national average of one teacher for every forty pupils in primary schools.

There are an average of 92 kids per classroom in some states, such as Bihar, where the ratio is 1:59 at the state level. Just 37% of schools nationwide lack toilets, 44% have separate restrooms just for girls, and only 85% of schools have access to drinking water. Merely 4.7% possess an electricity connection, while 5.7% own a computer. Just around half of the schools have any kind of medical or first aid facilities. Roughly 32% of elementary schools need building repairs, either big or small, and so on. A large number of these numbers are averaged across the country. The true breakdown of the population by regions and socioeconomic categories may be even more unsettling.

The picture is indeed disturbing as much progress is claimed in the recent years. For example, after the launch in 2002 of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) by the Government of India, which is flagship programme of govt of India for elementary education under the World Bank-funded project of the DPEP (District Primary Education Project) for about a decade, it is often reported that impressive progress has been made in elementary education in India. This progress is in terms of enrolments, buildings constructed, teachers appointed, amount of grant released/utilised, and so on. However in terms of actual outcome indicators the progress at ground level is still far from desired level.

Budgetary Provision
In 2010, 44 years after it was made, the UPA government's commitment to reiterate the 1966 Kothari Commission recommendation remained unfulfilled. The 3.23 percent GDP share of education spending in 2009–10 is a far cry from the planned 6%. Additionally, over the course of the eleventh five-year plan, expenditures against budget heads were limited to 16% for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, 36% for teacher training, 65% for midday meals, and 76% for SSA. This encounter is more than just annoying. There was a lot of optimism when the 2010–11 budget was unveiled that it would have sufficient funding to implement RTE 2009. Nevertheless, the current budget's improvement was just a 14.5% rise over the previous year's budget. This casts major doubt on the RTE Act's implementation.

However, the plan to loosen limits on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the higher education sector appears to be a step toward pushing for wider privatization of education, which is a hazardous indication that the government is in favor of the neoliberal policy framework.

Enforcement Mechanism through NCPCR

The National Commission for Protection of Children's Rights (NCPCR) and State Commissions for Protection of Children's Rights (SCPCR) in each state will oversee the implementation of the RTE Act. This act will go into effect tomorrow, April 1st, and there is no SCPCR in 32 states in India to enforce it. Even though it will shortly be established, this entity lacks the ability to enact laws or handle complaints.

Additionally, the Ministry of Women and Child Development oversees the NCPCR/SCPCR, while the Ministry of Human Resource Development is responsible for the RTE Act of 2009 and free and compulsory education. We don't see how this committee, which lacks judicial authority, will address the complaints of kids and instructors.

Children who are: "In need of care and protection" or "children with conflict of law" are also under the purview of this authority. This body lacks the pedagogical knowledge necessary to address issues related to education.

Voucher System
The Indian government sought to implement a voucher system in education in its eleventh five-year plan paper. This is being intended based on the experiences of certain nations whose socioeconomic circumstances differ significantly from those of India. We are quite hesitant to implement a voucher system. If implemented, it will further deny the impoverished children access to mainstream schooling. Additionally, this will promote a multilayered educational system and go against the fundamentals of a common education or schooling system.

Model Schools
The Indian government is eager to establish 6000 model schools in collaboration with the private sector. If every child in India between the ages of 6 and 14 has the right to an education, then why do we need these 6000 model schools? In contrast to the current school system, this will result in a multi-layered educational structure.

We believe that a multifaceted strategy involving the education and empowerment of Panchayats, School Management Committees, and civil society organizations will be necessary for the successful implementation of the RTE Act. More than a million teachers will need to be appointed by the government. The true answer to high-quality education does not lie in parateachers. State governments will also have to enact legislation in their own states and get those laws into effect as soon as possible. Written By: Akanksha