Delhi, December 15 2008: CHILDREN FROM economically weaker families may now hope to study in top private schools, thanks to a Bill which seeks to make free and compulsory elementary education the right of every child and earmark at least 25 per cent seats in class I for such students in every school. With some far-reaching provisions, the Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2008, introduced in Rajya Sabha today, seeks to do away with the practice of schools taking capitation fees before admission and subjecting the child or parents to any screening procedure. The Bill, introduced by Minister of State for HRD M A A Fatmi, also seeks to ban private tuition by teachers and ensure that no child is subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment, warning that whoever contravened the provisions would be liable to disciplinary action. At the same time, the Bill said it shall be the duty of every parent or guardian to admit the child to a neighbourhood school for elementary education and added that no child should be denied admission for lack of age proof. Seeking to carry out radical changes in the primary education pattern, the Bill states that no child shall be required to pass any Board examination till completion of elementary education. Noting that the goal of Universal Elementary Education (UEE) continued to remain elusive, the statement of objects and reasons said "the number of children, particularly children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections, who drop out of school before completing elementary education, remains very large". The Bill warned that if any school failed to fulfil the norms, the recognition to it would be withdrawn and if any person still continued to run the school, he or she would be liable to pay upto Rs one lakh fine.

No school, other than a school established, owned or controlled by the government or the local authority, shall, after the commencement of the Act, be established or will function, without obtaining a certificate or recognition from such authority, it said. The Bill said that no teacher shall be deployed for any non-educational purposes other than the population census, disaster relief duties or duties relating to elections to the local authority, assembly or Parliament. "Provision of free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality to children from disadvantaged and weaker sections is, therefore, not merely the responsibility of schools run or supported by the appropriate governments, but also of schools which are not dependent on government funds," the statement said. The Bill is an enabling legislation passed in 2002 to operationalise the 86th Constitution amendment giving every child between six to 14 the right to free and compulsory education. The provisions of the Bill said that the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights would monitor the effective implementation of the measures in the Act and inquire into complaints.

It seeks to provide for constitution of a National Advisory Council to give expert advice to the Central government on implementation of provisions of the proposed legislation. The Bill said that the Centre and State governments would have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out provisions of the proposed legislation.

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