Compulsory education Bill destined for dustbin

The Free and Compulsory Education Bill, which would have forced the Centre to commit 3 per cent of the GDP or Rs 97,000 crore on elementary education, is likely to get a silent burial.

Sources in the government said that a model Bill was being made that would then be passed on to the states for drafting their own legislations.

The Bill seeks to make Centre primarily responsible for funding elementary education, reversing the present Centre-state expenditure ratio of 12:88.

The Bill asks for 3 per cent allocation for elementary education, 2 per cent for secondary and 1 per cent for higher and technical education, based on the premise that the government would fulfil the Common Minimum Programme commitment of allocating 6 per cent of GDP to education.

Another aspect of the Bill that seems to have been received coldly by the government, which otherwise favours reservations, is the 25 per cent quota in private schools for neighbourhood children. This was intended to further the concept of common schools as a means of social integration.

The model Bill keeps private schools outside its purview, whereas the draft Bill requires regulatory mechanism for private schools. Besides, the model Bill would pass on the financial burden primarily to states.

Recently, a Cabinet note of the ministry proposed that a Central law on Right to Education should be sent to states so that they could model their laws based on it. It offers 50 per cent of the expenses in elementary education to states which draft the law and 25 per cent to those who don't.

This was an echo of a communication from the National Advisory Council in March saying that a Central law has to be prepared and states should model their laws on it. Both are silent on the fate of the Free and Compulsory Education Bill, drafted to fulfil the constitutional commitment of providing every child the Right to Education.

Officials in the Human Resource Development Ministry refused to confirm or deny whether the draft Bill had been discarded. "Nothing is decided. Consultations are going on," said an official.

The Central Advisory Board for Education, which was reconstituted by the present government, had approved the existing draft Bill after it was redrafted by a five-member committee under CABE in August last year.

The Bill was originally drafted by the NDA government. The move to discard the draft Bill on Right to Education has evoked sharp criticism from CABE.

CABE member and former secretary of the People Science Network Vinod Raina, who was part of the drafting committee, said, "If a model Bill will substitute the draft Bill, then what is the purpose of CABE which had approved the existing Bill?"

He said the Centre was denying 10 crore children in the age of 6-14 the Right to Education guaranteed by the Constitution, by leaving it to the states to bring in a legislation.

"This is something which can be challenged in court as it was an Act of Parliament which assured Right to Education to every Indian child, making the Centre responsible for bearing the cost of educating them," he said.

"If the Centre is ready to increase some seats in higher education to redress the grievance of a few thousand medical students, then what about 10 crore children who never manage to reach higher education?" he asked.

"Since they cannot come and protest on the streets of Delhi, the government is passing the buck to the states," he said.