Education in India - Fundamental Rights for 6 - 14 year olds

New Delhi, India was the location for mass public protests. For the first time in Indian history, people took to the streets to fight for education. The peaceful demonstration held at the end of November argued for children's education as a basic and fundamental right.

Men and women travelled from all over India to show their support for a bill which would make elementary education for children between the ages of 6 and 14 compulsory. Many of the protestors were from poor rural areas where education for children is especially bad in terms of facilities, quality of teaching and expense.

On November 28th following the mass demonstrations, the lower house of the Indian Parliament passed a bill which introduced the basic rights of children aged 6 - 14 for free compulsory education. Following the subsequent approval of the amendment bill in the upper house it has now become a compulsory Constitutional requirement for children in the stated age range to receive schooling across India.

With the right management and appropriate resources, this could in turn be the fuel for some of the greatest achievements in the 21st Century. However first some of the issues outlined below will need to be dealt with.

India is the second most populous country in the world with a total of 1 billion people. Illiteracy is thought to affect one-third of the population, with particular concentration in rural areas. Rural parents have been previously sighted as heavily responsible for this phenomena. Yet according to recent surveys undertaken by the New Delhi School of Economics and the Indian Social Institute, many unsubstantiated beliefs about rural families and education are totally unfounded.

For instance, the assertion that parents of rural children have little value for education was incorrect and over 80% saw the importance of education for freedom and self-defense. Likewise the belief that rural children are expected to work on the land and do not have time for education is equally fictitious. The survey found that most rural children have plenty of time on their hands and it is in fact the schools, teachers and expense that keeps the child away from education.

Studies showed that the factors for children only receiving on average 2 years of schooling revolved around the following:

• In rural areas schools have little or no facilities and many stand simply as a hut with a tin roof. There are often no toilets, desks, books, water, or furniture. This environment, especially in India's harsher climates, makes any kind of learning very difficult.
• In some locations, teachers have a reputation for being lazy, uninspiring and even violent towards the children. Once again, such situations hardly encourage children to attend schools.
• For some poor families, the financial burden incurred to send children to attend a government primary school in northern India is very serious and sometimes a deterrent for sending children to school