A Loud "No" To RTE

But a resounding “yes” to individual choice of school. That is the way to go to bring the Indian education system up to international standards.

Rahul Gandhi, in all his speeches, brags about the landmark legislation brought about by UPA I and II, including the Right to Education Act of 2009. The RTE legislation in particular is one of the most deeply flawed legislations of our times, brought in only for the purpose of bragging rights with the illusion of securing more votes. Amethi, from where Rahul Gandhi is contesting, is one of the worst performing (with respect to RTE) constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, with less than 1 per cent of its schools complying with RTE norms, according to this report.

There is copious literature available on the flaws of the RTE. Yet, there is very little being discussed and debated about genuine school reforms India needs so that every child — girl or boy — has access to quality education and the fighting chance in their lifetime to enjoy life with dignity. There is an urgent need for transforming ‘No Child Left Behind’ from a dream to a mission. The current system, with or without RTE compliance, is broken. We have an absurd situation where Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools are spending approximately Rs 60,000 per child per year and yet parents are spending upwards of Rs 1000 per child per month to have their children study in private schools. There are private unaided schools in Mumbai with a long waiting list that deliver ‘premium’ education at approximately Rs 40,000 plus some extras per child per year while most private ‘aided’ schools in the city charge school fees ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 36,000 per child per year. Eighty-nine per cent of families surveyed by the NGO Praja along with Hansa research, with their children currently in BMC schools, want to admit their children in private schools but are unable to do for want of money.

Citizens are far wiser than the State! They are best placed to determine what is good for their children. This must be the starting premise of school reforms across urban and rural India! A fundamental rethink is required about the kind of school system that is required that can provide quality learning outcomes to hundreds of millions of our children.

Choice must be at the heart of school reform. Every child, irrespective of caste, creed, gender or income levels of families, will be eligible for the same amount of funding for school education from the kindergarten (age 4) till Class 10 (age 16). In a second phase, this can be extended to cover education until Class 12. All families, independent of income levels, will be provided school vouchers of the same value. The value of the vouchers can be fixed for metros/cities, towns and rural areas to account for the difference in cost of land and building. Children with school vouchers will be eligible for admission to any voucher school of their choice within a 3-4 km radius of their homes. In case of excess demand over the school’s capacity, a transparent lottery system can be used to allocate seats.

I am against targeting specific income levels for eligibility of school vouchers, on both philosophical and administrative grounds. At a philosophical level, the spirit behind RTE as well as in the Directive Principles of our constitution clearly mandates funding of quality school education for every child, as the responsibility of the State. This must be non-negotiable. At an implementation level, the administrative overhead of targeting specific income levels is not worth the possible savings, especially given that a very large percentage of our children (upwards of 90 per cent) are still studying in government run or government aided schools today.

It has been recognised globally that the school voucher is the most optimal instrument to empower families and children with choice.

The school voucher value must be sufficient to cover all the expenses required to delivery quality outcomes. Partial funding limits choice, practically nil choice for most families, as they do not have the wherewithal to fund the balance. In metros like Mumbai and NCR, all data points indicate that about Rs 45,000 per child per year (roughly 3.5-4 times of the amount specified under the RTE Act) is what it will take to deliver quality learning outcomes. (Note: This number is 25 per cent less than current BMC spends!) This number can be adjusted for smaller towns and rural areas based on cost of land.

All non residential State Board and CBSE schools (across all language mediums) will be covered under the school voucher system. Schools affiliated with other Boards, including ICSE will have the option to be part of the school voucher network. To encourage edupreneurs to start more such schools, 100 per cent financing of infrastructure for these schools can be brought under priority sector lending of banks. Management of existing schools run by the government can be handed over to the Principal and Staff or to ‘edupreneurs’ and NGOs through a transparent accreditation and empanelment mechanism. All staff selection should be decentralised to the local management of the schools. Only minimum pay for the teachers should be specified in the standards. Incomes of teachers, school staff and school management should be made completely tax free. If agricultural incomes can be tax free, there is no reason to exclude income from education (and health care too – which will be the subject of separate posts). If school education for our children is not priority for the nation, what is?

An independent school governance and certification authority should be constituted for each state. The process for constituting this Authority should be transparent through appropriate search and selection committees, to ensure that the best available talents and expertise are leveraged. Such an authority will in turn empanel at least two district level agencies which will certify and grade all the voucher schools as A/B/C. 50 per cent weight for the grading evaluation should come directly from the feedback / evaluation from the students and parents. Functioning PTAs should be made mandatory for all the schools to ensure that there is constant pressure on the school management to deliver according to expectations of the families.

‘A’ Grade schools can be provided an added incentive of an additional 20 per cent above the standard voucher value. This will ensure that schools are constantly competing to deliver the best possible outcomes. Schools that are graded in ‘C’ category for two consecutive years will be automatically pushed out of the voucher system.

School education deserves a minimum 20 per cent allocation of central, state and local government. In addition tax free education bonds can be issued. Families saving a significant amount because of availability of vouchers can be encouraged to invest in these tax free bonds. Further, the 2 per cent CSR responsibility mandated by the CSR Act can be used in a targeted manner. Direct grants by the corporate sector to any of the voucher schools can be designated as fulfilling their CSR responsibility. I am convinced that if we have a well functioning network of vouchers schools with choice, getting additional funds to top up the school voucher amounts will not be an issue at all.

If ‘uneducated’ citizens of a poor Yusugnagar colony in Hyderabad, as witnessed by this writer, can understand the benefits of a school voucher system, why is it so damn incomprehensible to our politicians and leaders? This is the question that every Indian must ask. Only an educated India can lead to a resurgent India. Unfulfilled potential of our citizens is the biggest crime that our governments have perpetrated for sixty seven years since our independence!

The writer is a member of the Lok Satta Party, but not all views expressed in the article are necessarily of the political organisation he belongs to