Is the right of children to free and compulsory education act really beneficial to the poorer children in India? An analysis with special reference to the admission of poorer children in public unaided schools

Abstract

It is proposed to examine whether the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act can achieve its major objective of ensuring education for all children in India. Indian parents like to enter their wards into private schools because they believe that the standard of education in the public schools is poor. The act strengthens this belief and it is insufficient to promote a public schooling system which is easily affordable for poorer children. The beneficiary of the act will be the lower middle-class people, not the poorer. The act is implemented without considering the basic issues in Indian society, such as poverty. The poorer children cannot attend schooling, because they want to help their parents to earn their daily livelihood. Thus, before guaranteeing the quality of education, primarily the authorities should ensure that all children go to school.

Keywords:

• right to education act
• private unaided schools
• aversion to public schools
• poverty
• child labour