EDUCATION AND RIGHT TO EDUCATION

 

Right to education  is one of the major issues that has been taken up by the govt.  in the recent years.

"The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act' or 'Right to Education Act also known as RTE', stress the importance of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010. The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’. ‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education".

But this right to education needs to have more specification & categorization. Formulation of the right and its impartation should be certified and encouraged but it needs to evolve from its self, otherwise we are bound to reach a state where we are going to produce literate but not educated ones.”True education is that which enable us to stand on our own legs” as said by the  great Indian saint Swami Vivekananda. He also said “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man”. Present syllabus of any form of studies has less application and more theoretical and historical values which are definitely needed but in a glimpse  and that cannot be the only syllabus for the students.

British designed syllabus made us crippled even though there were few protest in some areas in the past but ultimately we had to surrender in front of the western education shadow. In this process indigenous values and culture is lost and finally we find ourselves in transition of western and indigenous education. May be in the coming years our future generation would have to search for their identity as in the education system culture, history, literature and everything rests.

As in the case of right to education children should have free and compulsory education by all in 6-14 age group but definitely question arises in our mind regarding the type of education that needs to be imparted. Then, after the age of 14 what need to be their strategy or is this only a passport in the election campaign/Election to ensure the  number of students who were given education in  the past. We are forcefully creating a platform for the students, wherein, with the little education gained by them is neither  helping them to do something nor  they can return to the place of ancestral occupation. So in such cases where is the stand point of education? As the government and government agencies are spending huge amount of money in the name of education and for  that  the wish and suggestion of elderly educated  people are over looked and complete system has turned out to be the production of literates, where one can only  read and write. Right  to education,  to some extent has become forceful education.

In such a scenario what need to be the form of education? In this above case the children those who are included are mainly below poverty line, labourers, downtrodden etc .but one thing common in  them is that they have a record of ancestral occupation which may be partially / fully practiced by them but may not have scientific approach towards that occupation. Children inherit those through informal education. So definitely non formal and informal education of the parental occupation is in them and now our duties remain to  filter and refine those knowledge that they have gained. Children’s inclination towards their father’s profession is a step towards developing interest in the subject which they are going to study more.

What would it bring if we give education in the subject  of  English /Mathematics  to a student whose father is a farmer? A farmer’s son needs education mainly in agriculture and different aspects of agriculture. This process of education  need to be in gradation form, starting from age 6 and gradually when he reaches 14 yrs the student come to know regarding the scientific application in his agriculture field. His ideas would become boon for the farmer parents. Now after 14 yrs his interest in the concerned subject would take him to higher education and  he may even end up in research. And again other subjects like history, geography etc. need to be a part of his curriculum and agriculture to be the main. If we take the context of Assam, farmers are considered to be poor here, where as in Punjab they are rich and if we move to countries like Australia & New Zealand  farmers are considered to be millioners. So if the right to education produces literates but takes away one from his root, then what is the use of such education.

Assam is famous for silk , hand loom and other handicraft which have great demand in Indian market, so likewise as cited above, agriculture pattern of education can also be applied in this case from age group 6-14. With this implementation, love for ancestral occupation would increase too many folds and students will also feel proud to do something of their own   in that concerned subject. Therefore importing our own GAMUSA from other states like Andhra Pradesh won’t take place. There need to be always alternative if we want to stop the prevailing one. We need to ban polythene bags that is correct but there need to be equivalent substitute for polythene bags, same applied for the handicraft and hand loom products of our state.

Same is applicable for electronic toys and other appliances and it  has a demanding market in international level. We can strengthen this with our basic education and compete with our neighbouring countries like China. Only slogan and protest to boycott Chinese product won’t do till we have generated sufficient " Made in India Market". These are only few examples but in our state so many traditional things are practiced and most of them are in the verge of extinction, our education’s sole purpose need to make them alive and strengthen them. We need to understand one thing that Each soul is potentially divine and our education need to nurture those potentiality instead of heaping the education which is not in the track .

Sarva Siksha Avijan is very good to hear as it has already linked with our emotions but it should evolve and need to have specification and categorisation and should also have linking with our skills, techniques and heritage.

Education should not be equated with the amount of knowledge gained in science, Mathematics and literature but it should aim in the development of consciousness, awareness , civic sense along with integrated moral and spiritual values. Whatever designed in national level for the upliftment of education need to be accepted by all the states but its execution should be based on local needs. The  resources that are present in Gujarat , Maharashtra is not the same in Assam and vice versa and therefore the basic education should differ based on the availability of resources.

 

                                                      ************************