FAQ

1. What is Right to Education?

As per the constitution of India all children in the age group 6 to 14 have a fundamental right to free and compulsory education as will be detailed in law by the government.

This is similar to our other basic fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution such as right to life, equality, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, right against exploitation and right to constitutional remedies.

2. Wasn't Right to Education part of the original Indian constitution?

In the original Indian constitution this was in form of a directive principle to be implemented in a period of ten years. In original constitution it was stated as:

"The State shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years."

3. When was Right to Education added to the Indian constitution?

The Supreme Court in the case Unnikrishnan vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993) ruled that the right to education is a fundamental right that flows from the Right to life in Article 21 of the Constitution. In 1997 constitutional amendment making education a fundamental right was envisaged by Government of India and in 2002 education as a fundamental right was passed in the form of 86^th amendment.

4. But education is a State responsibility. What does it mean for Center to pass a Bill on this?

In 1976 constitution amendment was approved making Education a concurrent subject, meaning it was to be responsibility of both center and state governments. By enacting a legislation to provide Right to Education center is fulfilling its constitutional duties.

5. What are the implications of central government passing the bill to state governments as model bill?

This has several implications:

Education is a concurrent subject, meaning it’s a responsibility of both State and Central government. By not passing a Central legislation for Right to Education the Central government is abdicating its duties under the constitution.
By providing only a Model bill the central government is not obligated to provide any financial assistance to State governments for implementing the Fundamental Right.
Forcing the enactment and implementation of the bill a State government’s responsibility, means that several aspects of the bill may not be implemented at all.
If the central government tables and enacts the bill, it will pave way for a central legislative frame work through which constitutional guarantee for right to education is provided and for a legal framework through which a nation wide educational infrastructure is implemented.

6. What is the reason given by the center for dropping RTE bill?

The single reason stated by the government is lack of sufficient funds.

7. Is this a credible reason?

Education being a fundamental right it is an obligation of the government to provide the same. And hence this has first right over government resources.

Some Instances of Central Government spending:

· In the year 2004-05 an additional Rs. 5,010 crore was collected through the 2% education cess for funding universal basic education, but only Rs.2000 crore extra was spent for the purpose.

· The funds given in form of corporate subsidy (in terms of lost revenue generation) through the SEZ bill (which was passed in 2005) stands at Rs.90,000 crore as per finance ministry of India.

· Government has allocated Rs. 9,320 crore in 2005-06 for National highway Development Program (NHDP).

· Government has promised to spend an additional Rs.20,000 crore (estimated) on increasing seats in higher education institutions over the next three years.

These few instances indicate that government is given priority to other efforts, which are not fundamental rights, over Education and hence lack of funds is not a credible reason for shelving the bill. Government has the resources and if needed, can raise additional resources if the will is present and pressured into doing so.

8) What is the relationship between SSA and RTE? If RTE is sent to states how SSA will be affected?

SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) is a scheme for universal education by the government of India which is funded jointly by Central and State governments. It is not an obligation or duty of government to run the scheme.

Right to Education is a fundamental right of all children aged 6-14. It is an obligation on the government to provide equitable, free, quality education to all children aged 6-14.

As per media reports, states which pass the RTE bill will get their share of 50% funds for the SSA scheme from the 11^th five year plan and States which don’t will get only 25% of funds from Center for SSA. SSA will still exist even if RTE bill is approved.

9) Is there any statement for reservation based on economic conditions in RTE?

In the draft bill on Ministry of Education website there is a 25% reservation in private schools for children from economically weaker sections of society. Government will compensate private schools with the amount it spends on a child’s education per year for providing free education to all these children.

But media reports indicate that in the Model bill this provision has been dropped.

10) What is the expenditure involved in implementing Right to Education Bill?

The CABE report suggests that the implementation of the Bill will require an additional amount between Rs 3,21,000 crore and Rs 4,26,000 crore over six years -- an annual average of Rs 53,500 crore to Rs 72,700 crore in addition to the Rs 47,100 crore that is being spent on elementary education currently (2003-04). The amount budgeted to be raised by the Education Cess in 2005-06 is Rs 6,875 crore, and assuming this grows at the nominal GDP growth (assumed at 12.2% by the CABE Committee for its calculations), it would cover just 15-20% of the additional requirement. The report also points out that state governments may be fiscally constrained from funding incremental expenditure as required to implement the provisions of this Bill, and the entire burden may have to be borne by the central government. This would imply an estimated increase of 6.4%-8.5% to the central government’s annual budget.

Resources

More Information on the ILP site

Documents
Asha for Education Chapter feedback on RTE Bill (PDF, 313KB)

Memorandum submitted to the SFO Consul General, Aug 14, 2006 (PDF, 23KB)