Media Roundtable on Right to Education : Progress so far and the need to focus on quality of education

New Delhi, April 15, 2014: It is four years since the historic Right to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act that ensures free and compulsory education for children in the age group 6-14 years, was enacted by the Government of India. Tremendous progress has been made in the area of delivering education for all children as the RTE Act has been successful in bringing more children to school, improving the infrastructure and achieving the first milestone of near universal enrolment. However, there still needs to be a continuous focus on the quality of education and improvement in learning outcomes. 

In order to amplify the discussion on the diverse facets of the historic RTE Act, UNICEF organized a media roundtable in the capital today. The meeting brought together representatives from the Government, multilateral agencies and academicians. 

Ms. Kushal Singh, Chairperson, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rightsand Mr. Louis-Georges Arsenault, Representative UNICEF India Representative opened the discussion and the plenary experts included Dr Geeta Menon, Education expert, Dr. Dhir Jhingran, Senior Advisor, Education, UNICEF India and Dr. Indu Khetarpal, Principal, Salwan Public School, Ms. Urmila Sarkar, Chief of Education, UNICEF India,

The discussion focused on three key facets – the increased institutional capacity to implement RTE, the extension of RTE to cover preschool and secondary education and the critical element of quality focusing on transition from ‘Right of access to Education’ to ‘Right to Learn’.

The roundtable was an opportunity to highlight significant initiatives undertaken and reflect on ways to address challenges as well as identify innovative solutions that show the way forward. 

To enable all children to benefit from child-centred learning processes in child-friendly and inclusive learning environments, the focus has to be shifted from ‘Right of access to Education’ to ‘Right to learn and quality education’. This will lead to enhanced learning outcomes. Discussions highlighted that there are schools even in some parts of the country which are child friendly, where children are full of joy while interacting with teachers, where children feel safe and secure and where interactive and creative tools are used to ensure that children are happy and learning. Experts suggest the need to collectively advocate and offer support for promoting such child friendly schools in India. So that children are not just in school but are actually learning.

“Just imagine India when all of its children are learning and thriving in preschool through elementary and secondary education. What better way to secure the country’s future,” said Mr Louis Georges Arsenault, Representative, UNICEF India. 

The panel discussion also pointed out several scalable examples in states and the way forward to meet challenges on ground. For example, to tackle the gap in teacher recruitment and the large number of untrained teachers, Bihar has set an example by initiating training of untrained teachers through an innovative two year distance education program. In 27 districts across Bihar, 10,800 teachers have been trained and teacher attendance rates have gone up by an impressive 90%. 

UNICEF has been supporting the Government of India and states in the implementation of Activity Based Learning (ABL) to reduce learning gaps, social barriers and discrimination. Moving away from rote based learning, this innovative child centered pedagogy is now being practiced in 250,000 primary schools across the country. Evidence demonstrates major improvement in academic and co-curricular outcomes. 

“We need to shift the focus from ‘right of access to education’ towards ‘right to learn’, in order to achieve the promise of RTE and quality education with equity for all girls and boys,” said Urmila Sarkar, Chief of Education, UNICEF, India.

On the issue of extension of RTE to secondary education, experts shared their views on the need for inclusion of preschool and secondary education in the Act. In this regard, UNICEF celebrity advocate Kareena Kapoor who recently visited adolescent girls in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in Rajasthan shared that there needs to be a considerable thought about education at the secondary level, especially for adolescent girls above 14 years of age, for whom, being in a school is crucial from many stand points…. to be in a protected space, to prevent early marriage and hence early pregnancy, to develop life skills, to empower herself with knowledge.”