The process started in December 2002 and in the year 2009, the government of India finally amended the constitution for the Right to Education Act. This was a historic move that was aimed to benefit millions of children in India deprived of going to school because of their family’s financial condition. The Right to Education Act states, “Every child belonging to the age group 6-14 has their fundamental right to receive free and compulsory education.” A great move isn’t it?
The government schools are obliged to provide free education to every student enrolled there. Whereas the private schools which have their management are required to reserve 25% of the total seats for the economically backward class. With this act, the government ensures no children are left behind to receive basic elementary education. But do the government have a proper committee to ensure children are getting quality education? To reinforce RTE, the government has launched several schemes as well aiming to encourage students to come to school. The government is providing a free meals, uniforms, study materials and everything except quality education. Why?
Let’s understand this with a simple example ofa student going abroad for foreign studies. There is a 90% chance that a government school student will not think about going abroad and earning dollars. These students are fed how to complete education, get any job and sustain themselves. While a good premium private school tell students everything about the world of education and careers. They know about various courses available after school, the top universities in India, and if they want to go abroad then how they can get their Anna University transcript or any other university transcripts. Basically, they know everything about the world and its functions. Why don’t students from government schools know this? Firstly, they belong to an economically backward section and going abroad is a dream for them. The maximum they can think of is getting a decent job. Secondly, neither parents nor the teacher guides them properly. Their parents are busy earning daily wages having no idea about the outside world. And the teachers are just other government school students who managed to crack TET or NET like exams and become government school teachers. And this cycle continues.
It is very important that the guide or coach or teacher is qualified and capable. We can blame the government system and corruption for not having capable teachers in place. All the finances are government allots to improve education are either improperly managed or consumed at other places before reaching the beneficiaries. But for private schools, it is their business and they have no option but to maintain a standard of education. Unless they provide quality education they cannot sustain competition. Delhi government schools and schools like Atmananda are trying to compete with the quality of education provided in private schools. We cannot know how long it will take for schools across the country to do the same. Therefore private schools should be the preferred option for students looking to get a quality education.
