Page 46 - EW November 2024

Cover Story

paltry allocation for education, Subsequently in a detailed cover story ‘RTE shadow
in our path-breaking story over India’s most admired schools’ (EW October 2010),
‘Blueprint for a Supplemen- we reiterated that “the misgivings of private school man-
tary Budget for Primary Edu- agements and other stakeholders (parents, teachers) have
cation’, your editors presented transformed into snowballing fear of creeping erosion of
an innovative supplementary academic and administrative autonomy.”
resource mobilisation schema NB. Since it was enacted in 2009, the high promise RTE
for public education to equip Act has permitted blatant discrimination against private
government schools suffer- schools. For instance s.19 prescribes a wide range of man-
ing infrastructure deficiencies datory infrastructure provisions for private schools but ex-
such as laboratories, libraries empts 1.20 million government schools from adhering to
and lavatories. With Dr. A.S. them. Moreover, the impact of s.12 (1)(c) has been diluted
Seetharamu, former professor of education at ISEC, Ban- by a Supreme Court judgement (2012) which exempted mi-
galore, estimating the expenditure of equipping all govern- nority (and boarding) schools. Since then, the provision has
ment schools countrywide with libraries, laboratories and been substantially rendered ineffective with a large number
lavatories (lib-lab-lav) at Rs.47,725 crore, the EW schema of schools claiming linguistic and religious minority status.
provided a roadmap/calculus to mobilise the said sum by
way of reducing establishment expenses; modestly reduc- First ranking of India’s most admired
ing unwarranted middle-class subsidies; gradual disinvest- preschools. The inaugural EW India
ment of public sector enterprises; a modest Rs.1,000 flat Preschool Rankings (EWIPR) survey
tax for all income tax payers and cess on corporates, among (conducted by an independent market
other proposals. Since then coterminously with presenta- research agency which interviewed 1,522
tion of the Union Budget every year, your editors have been sample respondents in six major cites
presenting updated resource mobilisation schemas to mas- across the country) was published. The respondents rated
sively fund public education. Alas, despite inviting debate the country’s most prominent
and critiques of these schemas, there has been no response pre-primaries under ten param-
from government or eminent economists. eters of early education excel-
lence rating and ranking Top 20
Parliament passes RTE Act. On August 14, pre-primaries in six major cit-
the Lok Sabha unanimously passed the ies. Aware of popular ignorance
Right of Children to Free and Compul- about the critical importance
sory Education Bill, 2009 (aka RTE Act), of professionally administered
which made it incumbent upon the State ECCE (early childhood care and
to provide free and compulsory education to all children education), this was followed by
aged between six to 14 years. the first EW Early Childhood
The Bill was earlier passed by Education Global Conference
the Rajya Sabha on July 20. staged in India. Since then, the
EW comment. While EW wel- annual EWIPR has evolved into the country’s largest pre-
comed unanimous legislation schools rankings survey with league tables ranking over 500
of the RTE Act, 2009 by Par- preschools in 17 cities countrywide under ten parameters of
liament, in an early response early childhood education excellence.
editorial the very next month EW comment. The annual EW India Preschool Rankings
(September), we warned that and EW Early Childhood Education Conferences together
s.12 (i) (c) of the RTE Act, have impacted the critical importance of early childhood
2009 which mandates all care and education upon the national consciousness.
private unaided schools to re- “Hopefully this pioneer preschools survey will stimulate the
serve 25 percent of capacity in multiplication and upgradation of nascent ECE institutions
class I for children from poor households in their neigh- countrywide. Indeed, the rapid multiplication and improve-
bourhood and retain them until class VIII will “encourage ment of preschools across the country is an essential pre-
creeping nationalisation of these institutions”. “While it’s condition of endowing the vast majority of India's neglected
true that elite private schools will benefit by way of greater and short-changed children with a sound foundation for
student diversity, it’s unjust and probably unconstitutional life-long learning,” wrote your editors in a cover story (EW
for government to visit the consequences of its failure to May 2010).
improve standards in its own schools, upon privately-pro- NB. Your editors’ persistent advocacy of professionally
moted institutions,” wrote your editors. administered ECCE has paid off. National Education Policy

46 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024