Buzz of the hour: Right to Education

RTE has been quite a buzz among the eminent politicians, policymakers, social workers, educationists, etc. The newspaper columns are all full of Right To Education articles, the draft, changes, criticism, lack of implementation, new norms, etc. Today, at a small conference held at International TERI center in Bengaluru, i got a chance to see and learn things on a more macro perspective. There were these eminent policymakers, elite well read audience who kind of debated on the new buzzing phrase " RTE". 


As per article 21 of the constitution, every human being is entitled to right to life and this article itself self implies others like Right to Good Health, Right to Water and Sanitation and Right to Education. The RTE says a lot on what should be done and what should not be done and am very sure is one of the best steps taken to put things in place. But the major challenge lies in the implementation level, how well the officials take it and how effectively they carry out the responsibilities that they have been bestowed with. It was surprising to hear from people around today, especially a parent and a self proclaimed elite educationist, " Why should i send my child in a government school where the people from backward strata are given the same importance or where these poor society kids study? Why would i compromise on that when i can afford to pay high fees and give my child a better education in a private school? This comment actually took me by surprise and kind of left me amazed on the thought prevailing in the city among our own "Elite" class. But this is actually true. But when i though deep i realized this is true. No upper class individual would like her child playing with the kids of her servant. This discrimination persisted, persists and would always prevail in the society id things carry on in the same way. 


Caste discrimination lies and is slowly infused in the child's mind. For RTE major challenge lies in the transformation that needs to be done to the people's mindset. If we look at the model of Kendriya Vidyalaya, the crowd is heterogeneous in nature, children from all strata of society study there and the fees is nominal. Come on whats the harm in studying with that 25%? Whether education would benefit much to these 25% or not is not sure but the child would learn alot if he gets to interact with heterogeneous group. Allow your kids to interact with one and all. Do not sow the seeds of "discrimination" at source. Children are always raw, they would learn what is being taught to them, see things the way that is shown to them, but if parents carry this thing in mind then surely the child would discriminate and here we cannot blame the child at all for his attitude towards things as he was nurtured that way. 


Government allocates Rs. 12000 for every  kid under RTE and is looking to expand the "Free and compulsory Education" agenda. But one of the sad part is, unlike Right to Information, RTE is being treated like a scheme when it is not a scheme but state's obligation. Just allocating money, ensuring the students get enrolled in schools, is just not the work done enough. Officials should stop treating this as a Scheme and start taking their responsibilities more seriously without much depending on the funds being allocated by the state. This issue should be taken up as it is the benefit of our own children as they would be future leaders and the face of tomorrow. How well would be state be run or how high a GDP can an economy achieve without the bunch of educated and learned lot? Teach one, teach all as education is the right of all and not just few elites.


Hope the RTE is implemented well and every kid gets to live their dreams without fearing the fact that they do not own the so called precious thing "Money". 

Cruel societal norms

“A body which is built in one way, houses a mind which is crying to be something else..crying for their rights, crying for a normal living, crying for living “ have you ever thought how is it to belong to the class of transgender? How life looks when you are denied of your own rights? Discriminated for just being made in a different way? Its choking. It is difficult to walk in those shoes but that no where means that those shoes do not exist. This discrimination is embedded in our consciousness and is aggravated with the passing time owing to our ignorance and insensitivity. Right from childhood slowly all the self created societal norms and discriminations are infused in our system. But thankfully, someone thought out of the box and respecting the rights of this third gender, passed a ruling in their favor. Yes, finally the Pakistan Supreme court placed a ruling where every transgender can lawfully claim every right as is entitled to every human being.

Its bothers a great deal when the parents deter from accepting the abnormality of the child, the little kid without even knowing his fault is left to wonder why things are like this? Why can’t he be treated normally in the society? Not knowing the marked distinction or the cruelty of this society, even a little child belonging to this third sex faces things that surely he doesn’t deserve. I still wonder who has defined these societal norms? Who defined it without considering and including “ALL” in one framework? Going beyond the societal norms, you would be tagged “Unruly” and would attract one of those looks of killers. But again should this bother you a great deal? Move forward, fight for your own folks,their acceptance in the society. Fight for their rights. 


This mistreated lot of people should be treated at par, should get all the rights like a normal human, should be allowed to live, should be allowed to breathe and not suffocate and die. Try walking in their shoes once and everything, all the realities of life would be crystal clear. I feel this discrimination is even more severe than racial discrimination and should not be promoted any more.

So, it’s a request please “Stop Discrimination”.