Page 46 - EW July 2021 final

Cover Story

judgement of the Supreme Court in of Oxford University, studied the im-
T.M.A. Pai vs. Union of India (2002) pact of a devastating earthquake that
in which a full bench of justices of the rocked Pakistan in 2005 on children’s
apex court conferred wide autonomy education. It found that children who
on private education institutions and missed one year of primary school, fell
affirmed the fundamental right of behind by 1.5-2 years and never at-
all citizens to engage in the vocation tained full potential throughout their
of education and make reasonable school years. The study also found
profit for re-investment towards in- these children suffered income loss of
stitutional growth and development, 15-20 percent in adulthood.
most state governments have passed “The Pakistan earthquake forced
laws imposing tuition and other fees children out of school in one-two dis-
ceilings on private schools. tricts. But the pandemic lockdown has
Moreover, many state governments forced India’s 260 million children out
have been delaying reimbursements of school education nationwide for
due to private schools under s.12 (1) over 15 months. Loss of 15-20 percent
(2) of the historic Right of Children of income for millions of adults in the
to Free and Compulsory Education Kingdon: national imperative coming years will have a massive ad-
Act (RTE) 2009. Under s.12 (1) (c) of verse impact on national GDP growth.
the Act, schools are obliged to reserve of reopening the country’s 2 million Therefore, it’s a national imperative
25 percent of capacity in elementary pre-primaries (including 1.4 million that children are immediately back
classes (I-VIII) for children from poor anganwadis) and 1.5 million prima- in school with adequate health and
households in their neighbourhood ry-secondary schools nationwide. As safety safeguards,” says Prof. Geeta
free-of-charge, with the proviso that noted above, a large number of coun- Gandhi Kingdon, chair of educa-
state and/or local governments will tries around the world have restarted tion economics and international
reimburse part of their cost of edu- schools after brief lockdowns. Yet in development at University College,
cation calculated on the basis of per India, the authorities seem oblivious London, and also president of the City
capita education cost incurred in gov- to the immense learning loss suf- Montessori School, Lucknow, certi-
ernment schools. fered by India’s already educationally fied by Guinness World Records as
the world’s largest single-city school
short-changed children, and its seri-
E during the pandemic, sev- ous impact in terms of employment, with 57,000 students studying on its
VEN MORE BRAZENLY,
livelihoods and loss of future income.
17 campuses.
eral state governments
Even as politicians continue to
“There is a clear and present dan-
have issued directives to ger of millions of children who have dither on the issue of reopening
private school managements to refrain been deprived of primary education schools which threatens the future
from collecting contracted school fees for over one year, never being able to quality of life of the world’s largest
for the lockdown year 2020-21, while catch up and attain age-appropriate child and youth population, the worst
insisting that they pay full contracted levels of learning. This will adversely affected will be youngest children in
remuneration to teachers and employ- affect their income-earning potential pre-primary education. It’s chasten-
ees and conduct online classes. in later adult life. A study conducted ing to recall that until the dawn of 21st
For instance, in Karnataka the state by RISE (Research Improving Sys- century, there was minuscule aware-
government issued a circular to pri- tem of Education), a £43-million ness of the vital importance of profes-
vate schools to collect only 70 percent multi-country research programme sionally administered early childhood
of the tuition fee (and no other fees) care and education (ECCE) within the
for the academic year 2020-21. Thus, establishment and society. However,
overheads, campus maintenance and Although many countries after Dr. James Heckman whose re-
other expenses have to be borne by the worldwide have restarted search studies demonstrated that a
management. This directive has been dollar invested in ECCE saved $16 in
challenged and is part-heard in the schools after brief higher education in terms of benefits
Karnataka high court. lockdowns, in India the to society, EducationWorld together
This concerted effort by the Cen- with the then newly formed ECA
tral and state governments to destroy authorities seem oblivious (Early Childhood Association of India)
the finances of private schools during to the huge learning loss went into mission mode to impact the
the pandemic is compounded by con- suffered by children importance of ECCE as the building
tinuous procrastination on the issue block of the education continuum.

46 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2021