Sibal's 5 point plan: Hindi, quota and reforms

18/02/2010

Goldman Sachs counts the lack of quality education as one of the 10 factors holding India back from rapid economic growth. The demand for graduates over the next five years is likely to be 13.8 million, analysts have estimated. This is exactly what the govt is likely to address in the forthcoming Parliament session.

The government will introduce a bill to allow the entry of foreign universities during the parliament session that begins on Monday - a long-awaited reform that would revamp the country's education system.

Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal has been on the job for a while. The changes that he is introducing in the country's education system are radical indeed.

A quick peep into Kapil Sibal's gameplan for Gen Y.

1. Teaching Hindi

The Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal had announced the so called educational reforms within 100 days of assuming office.

One such reform was that everyone in the country should be taught Hindi. Mr Sibal had said in an educational conference that Hindi being the national language should be taught in all schools in the country. He was proposing Hindi to the rest of India while most of the illiterates hail from Hindi belt where the poor people do not know even how to read and write Hindi which is their mother tongue.

2. Boards reformed!

Another announcement suggested for taking tenth standard Board Examination as optional with grading system for assessment in class room. This evoked mixed reactions. Some people are happy that it saves the students from the burden of one board examination. He said that the grading system to assess the performance of the students shall take care of overall learning and performance. Mr Sibal had said that he would make efforts to have a single board exam in standard 12 across the country. Right now different boards take different exams with different marking systems. Why not have a single board where all compete in the same system? he had said.

3. No consensus on quota

A few medical college students, in 2006, protested in Delhi against reservation for OBCs in the institutions of higher learning. At that time Kapil Sibal, the Union Science and Technology Minister was in Hannover, Germany, attending a Technology Fair, said that the government might not initiate any measures that could dilute India's excellence and ability in the Global Economy. No policy initiative should be taken to dilute the level of excellence in research and development and educational institutions which would negatively impact our ability to compete in the global economy.

Unable to prevent reservation for OBCs, Kapil Sibal pressurised the then Congress Government to implement the reservations in a phased manner and succeeded much against the wish of Mr Arjun Singh the then HRD Minister who wanted to implement at one go. By that act, Kapil sibal exposed his real intentions although he denied that he was not against reservations. However, when he became the Minister for HRD he talked about reservation in private institutions as if he was in favor of such proposal and left it saying that we need a consensus.


4. Raising the bar

Sibal, then spoke about IIT-JEE eligibility criterion. The eligibility criteria of 60 per cent marks in Class XII for appearing in IIT Joint Entrance Examination will be raised to make students pay more attention to the board exam, he had said.

The present criteria is that students need to secure 60 per cent at Class XII for appearing in IIT-JEE. This is not acceptable. The minimum marks required for IIT-JEE could be raised up to 80 to 85 per cent, were his words. The coaching centres are giving training for the IIT entrance. As a result, the students are not studying seriously for Class XII exam and are giving more attention to the entrance exam. We want to get rid of the coaching centres by giving more weightage to the board exam, was Mr Sibal's opinion.

5. Reworking syllabus

And now, he is all set to introduce a core curriculum in math and science. The changes are based on the recommendations made by the Council of School Board of Education (COBS), which has studied that a core curriculum in math and science, in the higher secondary level, would ensure uniformity in content and provide a 'level playing field' for students across the country.

The core curriculum has been prepared for physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology and the boards have been given three months to prepare a core curriculum for commerce. The consensus is on the content of the syllabus and state boards will continue to determine the mode of examination.

The core curriculum will be accepted by all the state boards at the senior higher secondary level and it will be taught in the science stream in all schools from 2011-12.

Source: India Syndicate

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कैपिटेशन फीस लेने पर सज़ा !!


Author: Kusum Thakur | Posted at: Thursday, February 18, 2010 | Filed Under: देश
शैक्षणिक संस्थाओं में कदाचार पर लगाम लगाने से संबंधित विधेयक को मंत्रियों के समूह की मंजूरी मिल गई है। इसके बाद अब कैपिटेशन फीस वसूलने वाले या वायदा पूरा नहीं करने पर जेल की सजा हो सकती है।
इस कानून के तहत शैक्षणिक संस्थाओं के प्रशासकों को दोषी पाये जाने पर तीन वर्ष के कारावास या 50 लाख रुपये तक अर्थ दंड की सजा दी जा सकती है।

कृषि मंत्री शरद पवार के नेतृत्व वाले मंत्रियों के समूह ने मानव संसाधन विकास मंत्रालय के उस विधेयक को हरी झंडी दे दी जिसमें शैक्षिक कदाचार में संलिप्त संस्थाओं और उसके प्रशासकों के लिए कड़े दंड दिये जाने की बात कही गई है।

शैक्षणिक संस्थाओं में कदाचार पर नियंत्रण से संबंधित विधेयक में अपराध की प्रकृति को ध्यान में रखते हुए ऐसे काम के लिए फौजदारी या दीवानी अपराध के तहत मामला चलाने का उल्लेख किया गया है।

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Thursday, February 18, 2010
शिक्षा के अधिकार का छलावा लागू होगा

शिरीष खरे
संसद की हरी झण्डी मिलने के बाद, शिक्षा के अधिकार कानून को सरकार ने 1 अप्रैल से लागू करने के लिए हरी झण्डी दे दी है। क्या इससे देशवासियों की उम्मीदों को भी हरी झण्डी मिल पाएगी।

बीते साल, नई सरकार के मानव संसाधन विकास मन्त्री कपिल सिब्बल ने शिक्षा के अधिकार विधेयक को जब संसद के पटल पर रखा, तो उसकी कुछ खासियतों का खूब जोर-शौर से प्रचार-प्रसार किया। अब जबकि आम जनता के हाथों में यह कानून आने को है, सवाल है कि आम जनता द्वारा इस कानून का फायदा उठाया भी जा सकेगा, या नहीं।

जो परिवार गरीबी रेखा के नीचे बैठे हैं, उनके भविष्य की उम्मीद शिक्षा पर टिकी है, जो उन्हें स्थायी तौर पर सशक्त भी बन सकती है। सरकारी आकड़े कहते हैं कि 1 अरब से ज्यादा आबादी वाले भारत में 27.5: लोग गरीबी रेखा के नीचे हैं। इस देश में 70% लोग ऐसे हैं, जो हर रोज जितना कमाते हैं उससे बहुत मुश्किल से अपना गुजारा कर पाते हैं। इसी तबके के तकरीबन 20 करोड़ बच्चे स्कूलों से बाहर हैं। इसलिए भारत में गरीबी और शिक्षा की बिगड़ती स्थितियों को देखते हुए, 2001 में एक संविधान संशोधन हुआ, जिसमें यह भी स्पष्ट हुआ कि सरकारी स्कूलों में सुधार के लिए राज्य और अधिक पैसा खर्च करेगी। मगर हुआ इसके ठीक उल्टा, राज्य ने गरीब बच्चों की जवाबदारी से बचने का रास्ता ढ़ूढ़ निकाला और सरकारी स्कूलों को सुधारने की बजाय गरीब बच्चों को प्राइवेट स्कूलों (२५% आरक्षण देकर) का रास्ता दिखाया। फिलहाल, राज्य सरकार एक बच्चे पर साल भर में करीब 2,500 रूपए खर्च करती है। अब खर्च की यह रकम राज्य सरकार प्राइवेट स्कूलों को देगी। मगर प्राइवेट स्कूलों की फीस तो साल भर में 2,500 रूपए से बहुत ज्यादा होती है। ऐसे में आशंका पनपती है कि प्राइवेट स्कूलों में गरीब बच्चों के लिए अलग से नियम-कानून बनाए जा सकते हैं और उनके लिए सस्ते पैकेज वाली व्यवस्थाएं लागू हो सकती हैं। यह आशंका केवल कागजी नहीं है, बल्कि भोपाल में एक प्राइवेट स्कूल ने ऐसा कर दिखाया है। जाहिर है, सरकारी स्कूलों के गरीब बच्चे जब प्राइवेट स्कूलों में दाखिल होंगे तो उनके लिए आत्मविश्वास और ईज्जतदार तरीके से पढ़ पाना मुश्किल होगा। ऐसे में यह कह पाना भी फिलहाल मुश्किल होगा कि इन प्राइवेट स्कूलों में गरीब बच्चे कितने दिन टिक पांऐगे, मगर तब तक शिक्षा का यह `अधिकार´, `खैरात´ में जरूर तब्दील हो जाएगा। दूसरी तरफ, बीते लंबे समय से प्राइवेट स्कूलों की फीस पर लगाम कसने की मांग की जाती रही है। मगर शिक्षा का ऐसा कानून तो प्राइवेट स्कूलों को अपनी मनमर्जी से फीस वसूलने की छूट को जारी रख रहा है। इस तरह से एक समान शिक्षा व्यवस्था, जो कि आत्म-सम्मान की बुनियाद पर खड़ी है, उसके बुनियादी सिद्धान्त को ही तोड़ने-मरोड़ने का मसौदा तैयार हुआ है।

जब शिक्षा के अधिकार के लिए विधेयक तैयार किया जा रहा था तब सरकारी स्कूलों में बिजली, कम्प्यूटर और टेलीफोन लगाने की बात भी थी। जिसे बाद में कतर दिया गया। ऐसे तो सरकारी स्कूलों की दशा सुधरने की बजाय और बिगड़ेगी। सरकारी स्कूलों को तो पहले से ही इतना बिगाड़ा जा चुका है कि इनमें केवल गरीब बच्चे ही पढ़ते हैं।

फिर भी मिस्टर सिब्बल अगर कहते है कि प्राइवेट की साझेदारी से ही देश में शिक्षा की गुणवत्ता में सुधार आ सकता है, तो उनका यह तर्क ठीक नहीं लगता। वह भूल रहे हैं कि अच्छी गुणवत्ता वाली शिक्षा तो भारतीय सरकार की मुख्य विशेषता रही है। तभी तो तमाम आईआईटी और आईआईएम से जो बड़े-बड़े इंजीनियर और प्रबंधक निकल रहे हैं, वो पूरी दुनिया में अपनी जगह बना रहे हैं। जबकि हम जानते है कि यह दोनों संस्थान सरकारी हैं। इसी तरह केन्द्रीय विद्यालय और नवोदय विद्यालय के उदाहरण भी हमारे सामने हैं- जिनसे निकलने वाले बच्चे, बाद में देश के बड़े-बड़े नेता, प्रशासनिक अधिकारी, सरकारी और गैर-सरकारी संस्थाओं से जुड़कर अच्छे जानकार साबित हुए हैं।

इसी तरह, शिक्षा का यह अधिकार केवल 6 से 14 साल तक के बच्चों के लिए है। जबकि हमारा संविधान 6 साल के नीचे के 17 करोड़ बच्चों को भी प्राथमिक शिक्षा, पूर्ण स्वास्थ्य और पोषित भोजन का अधिकार देता रहा है। अर्थात यह कानून तो शिक्षा के अधिकार के नाम पर संविधान में पहले से ही दर्ज अधिकारों को काट रहा है। दूसरी तरफ, 15 से 18 साल तक के बच्चों को भी कानून में जगह नहीं दे रहा है। वैश्विक स्तर पर बचपन की सीमा 18 साल तक रखी गई है, जबकि अपनी सरकार बचपन को लेकर अलग-अलग परिभाषाओं और आयु-वर्गों में विभाजित है। इन सबके बावजूद वह 18 साल तक के बच्चों से काम नहीं करवाने के सिद्धान्त पर चलने का दावा करती है। मगर जब उस सिद्धान्त को कानून या नीति में शामिल करने की बारी आती है, वह पीछे हट जाती है। अगर कक्षाओं के हिसाब से देखे, तो यह अधिकार कम से कम पहली और ज्यादा से ज्यादा आठवीं तक के बच्चों के लिए है। अर्थात जहां यह आंगनबाड़ी जाने वाले बच्चों को छोड़ रहा है, वहीं बच्चों को तकनीकी और उच्च शिक्षा का मौका भी नहीं दे रहा है। क्येंकि आमतौर से तकनीकी पाठयक्रम बारहवीं के बाद से ही शुरू होते हैं, मगर यह कानून तो उन्हें केवल साक्षर बनाकर छोड देने भर के लिए है। कुलमिलाकर, शिक्षा के अधिकार का यह कानून न तो `सभी बच्चों को शिक्षा का अधिकार´ देता है, न ही पूर्ण शिक्षा की गांरटी ही देता है।

दुनिया का कोई भी देश सरकारी स्कूलों को सहायता दिए बगैर सार्वभौमिक शिक्षा का लक्ष्य नहीं पा सकता है। विकसित अर्थव्यवस्था वाले देश जैसे यूएस, यूके, फ्रांस अपने राष्ट्रीय बजट का 6-7% हिस्सा शिक्षा पर खर्च करते हैं। जबकि अपने देश में 40 करोड़ बच्चों की शिक्षा पर राष्ट्रीय बजट का केवल 3% हिस्सा ही खर्च किया जाता है। जबकि देश की करीब 40% बस्तियों में प्राथमिक स्कूल नहीं हैं। जबकि देश के आधे बच्चे प्राथमिक स्कूलों से दूर हैं। जबकि देश में 1.7 करोड़ बाल-मजदूर हैं। जबकि यह देश 2015 तक स्कूली शिक्षा का लक्ष्य पूरा करने की हालत में भी नहीं हैं। ऐसे में तो हमारी सरकार को बच्चों की शिक्षा में और ज्यादा खर्च करना चाहिए। मगर वह तो केन्द्रीय बजट (2009-10) से `सर्व शिक्षा अभियान´ और `मिड डे मिल´ जैसी योजनाओं को ही दरकिनार करने पर तुली है।
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शिरीष खरे `चाईल्ड राईटस एण्ड यू´ के `संचार विभाग´ से जुड़े हैं।


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Shirish Khare
C/0- Child Rights and You
189/A, Anand Estate
Sane Guruji Marg
(Near Chinchpokli Station)

Mumbai-400011Education Act finally to be notified on April 1


Come April 1, children in the 6-14 age-group will finally get their right to education. Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal has decided to notify the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009

The Right to Education Act (RTE) that was passed by Parliament in August 2009 after several abortive attempts is all set to become a reality with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) expected to notify it on April 1. Though the Act was gazetted soon after its enactment, a separate notification was mandated in the body of the law for it to actually come into effect.

According to Section 1(3) of the Act, “it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint”. That date has now been fixed for April 1, 2010.

The Act that promises free and compulsory education to all children aged between 6 and 14 years was stuck over Centre and state negotiations on who will bear the implied financial burden: a staggering Rs 1.71 lakh crore in the next five years.

The HRD ministry is learnt to have zeroed in on a 65:35 Centre-state fund-sharing formula to implement the ambitious provisions of the Act, it is learnt. A huge allocation to facilitate its further implementation is also in the offing in the next Union budget, ministry sources say.

The notification will bring to an end the long journey which saw its first official milestone in December 2002 when the fundamental right to education was enacted. While efforts to bring compulsory education for children in the age-group 6-14 out of the directive principles of state policy and make it a fundamental right predate 2002, governments in subsequent years have made several attempts to pass the Right to Education Act -- a law to operationalise the fundamental right to education.

While discussions on the funding formula have been on for months now, with state governments reluctant to shoulder too big a share, some states suggested a 90:10 Centre-state fund-sharing arrangement. Marathon meetings between the HRD ministry, Planning Commission and the PMO finally led to a consensus on a 65:35 formula.

A 75:25 formula proposed by the HRD ministry and a 60:40 fund-sharing approach were also being considered. A final meeting with the prime minister late last month is learnt to have helped arrive at a 65:35 funding pattern.

What this will imply is that all the states put together will have to pitch in with Rs 30,000 crore or so over the next five years, which the Centre considers feasible. State governments, however, may not find the formula very agreeable but will have to be brought around to the view that states must prioritise education.

The Centre will be allocating a substantial amount for RTE implementation in this budget through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme that will serve as an implementation channel for the Act so that construction of buildings and recruitment of teachers can begin.

An amount of Rs 34,000 crore has already been allocated to the SSA for the next two years of the Eleventh Plan period. With the recession constraining resources during the plan, a larger allocation towards implementation of the provisions of the Act will come only in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, say ministry officials.

The model rules for implementation of the Act, as approved by the HRD ministry and circulated to all states last month, highlight the responsibilities of state governments, local authorities, school management, parents and teachers.

The rules say that state governments or local authorities will determine neighbourhood schools by undertaking household surveys and school mappings. Such agencies shall ensure that no child is subjected to caste, class, religious or gender abuse at school.

Local authorities will conduct household surveys and maintain a record of all children in their jurisdiction. The record will contain detailed information on children and their parents, and will specify whether they belong to a weaker sections or disadvantaged group, or have a disability.

The state government or local authority will identify children with disabilities and children from disadvantaged groups every year. Unaided and private schools shall ensure that children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups shall not be segregated from other children in the classroom, nor shall their classes be held in places and timings different from classes held for the other children.

Such children shall not be treated differently from the rest of the children in any manner pertaining to entitlements and facilities like textbooks, uniforms, library, ICT facilities, extra-curricular activities and sports, the rules say.

The school management committee or local authority will identify drop-outs or out-of-school children above six years of age and admit them in classes appropriate to their age after special training. The duration of the training shall be for three months and can be extended to two years. After admission, these children will continue to receive special attention by teachers for their successful integration into the class “academically and emotionally,” the rules say.

The state government and local authorities will establish primary schools within a walking distance of 1 km from the neighbourhood. In case of Class VI to VIII children, the school should be within a walking distance of 3 km from the neighbourhood.

Private schools will reserve 25% of their seats for poor children, and provide free education to them. The government will reimburse the cost according to the per-child expenditure fixed by it.

The rules prescribe a formula to calculate per-child expenditure. The annual recurring expenditure incurred by the state government on elementary education in respect to all schools established, owned or controlled by it or by the local authority, divided by the total number of children enrolled in all such schools, shall be the per-child expenditure.

In the absence of schools in small hamlets, the state government shall make adequate arrangements like free transportation and residential facilities. For physically challenged children, the state government will make arrangement for their smooth transport and schooling.

The states are now expected to draw up their own rules based on these model rules for implementation of the Act.

However, many organisations like the All-India Forum for Right to Education (AIF-RTE), which has been concerned over the rapidly deteriorating state of the education system from the pre-primary stage to higher and technical education, are critical of the RTE Act.

“It is designed to enable the state to abdicate its constitutional obligation towards providing elementary education (Class I-VIII) of equitable quality to all children in the 6-14-year age-group,” the Forum has said in a press release issued in New Delhi recently.

Primary objections to the RTE Act 2009 include:

It will demolish the entire government school system except schools in certain elite categories (for example, kendriya vidyalayas, navodaya vidyalayas, the Eleventh Plan’s 6,000 model schools, and similar elite schools of states/UT governments).
The Act will provide neither free education nor education of equitable quality. Rather, it will legitimise and maintain the multi-layered school system built through the World Bank’s District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) during the 1990s, and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the current decade.
The central agenda of the Act is clearly to privatise and commercialise the school system through neo-liberal schemes such as public private partnerships (PPPs), school vouchers, adoption of schools by corporate houses, religious bodies and NGOs.
The Forum wants the government to replace the RTE ACT 2009 with a new Act drafted in the framework of a ‘common school system based on neighbourhood schools’ in consonance with the basic spirit and principles enshrined in the Constitution, and review the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act (2002) with a view to providing the fundamental right to free and compulsory education of equitable quality to all children until the age of 18, that is, until Class XII, including early childhood care and pre-primary education.

Moreover, it wants the government to incorporate a constitutional guarantee within the Act for providing adequate funding to the entire school system, including early childhood care and pre-primary education.

Source: The Indian Express, February 13, 2010
Press Trust of India, February 13, 2010
The Hindu, February 12, 2010
http://www.indiaedunews.net, February 2010