CHAPTER-V Summary and Conclusions

5.1

Rationale of the Study Right to Education is an act to provide for free and compulsory

education to all children of the age of 6-14 years. Education is liberating force, and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances". This axiomatic impression of Indira Gandhi is what all schools of humanities and social sciences advocate. Education is indeed a liberatind force and right to liberty is a fundamental one. Education can enrich human life more than anything else can do. Once acquired, education remains as an indelible asset. But sadly, education especially higher education has remained accessible to the privileged classes only and the education system at this level is being run like factories where the primary intention of the owners is self interest and profiteering. The same is true of primary education run by private managements. The National Knowledge commission has been examining a range of issues related to school education, including access, quality and other issues. We believe that providing universal access to quality school education is a cornerstone of development and a minimum necessary condition for any progress towards making India a knowledge society. "Our progress as a nation can be on swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource". -John F. Kennedy. Thus, this study, aims to know the awareness of stake holders towards Right to Education Act at elementary education level.

66

5.2

Statement of the Problem The problem under study reads as AWARENESS OF STAKE

HOLDERS TOWARDS RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT-2009. 5.3 Objectives The objectives of the study were as follows1. To study the awareness of school headmasters or headmistress towards Right to Education Act -2009. 2. To study the awareness of school teachers towards Right to Education Act -2009. 3. To study the awareness of students towards Right to Education - 2009. 4. To study the awareness of parents towards Right to Education Act 2009. 5. To find out the opinions of teacher educators on Right to Education Act-2009. 6. To seek suggestions of teachers towards implementation of Right to Education act-2009. 5.4 Research Questions 1. Are the heads of schools aware of Right to Education Act-2009? 2. Are school teachers aware of Right to Education Act-2009? 3. Whether students are aware of Right to Education Act-2009? 4. Whether parents or community members are aware of Right to Education Act-2009? 5. What are the opinions of teacher educators on Right to Education Act2009? 6. What are the suggestions of teacher educators towards Right to Education Act-2009?

67

5.5

Delimitations of the Study The present study is confined to the awareness of stake holders,

opinions of teacher educators on Right to Education Act, suggestions

of

teachers towards implementation of Right to Education act at the elementary schools of Bhubaneswar City, Odisha. The study is delimited to Government elementary schools of Bhubaneswar City, Khurda district, Odisha, Nalini Devi Womens College of Teacher Education, Bhubaneswar and SCERT, Bhubaneswar. 5.6 Methodology

5.6.1 Design of the study The present study is a survey type of research and it is so designed to obtain pertinent and precise information about awareness of stakeholders towards Right to Education Act at elementary education level. This method was adopted to collect detailed data of stake holders with the intent of employing the same to justify current conditions and to bring them to limelight for the information of the concerns. 5.6.2 Sample of the Study In Odisha there are thirty districts .To have a sample picture only one district was chosen. Five elementary schools and one teacher training college and State Council of Education Research and Training were taken as sample. The sample of the study comprised of five heads of schools, twenty teacher educators, fifty school teachers, fifty parents, fifty students. 5.6.3 Tools The following tools were used for collecting the data i) ii) iii) iv) v) Questionnaire for school heads. Questionnaire for school teachers. Questionnaire for parents. Questionnaire for students. Opinionnaire of teacher educators

68

5.6.4 Procedure followed in the Study The questionnaires were administered with the school heads, school teachers, parents, students & teacher educators and their responses were collected personally by the investigator. 5.6.5 Analysis of Data Data collected were tabulated and analyzed in terms of percentage and qualitative analysis for meaningful interpretation. 5.7 Major Findings 1. Our government has passed the bill quite enthusiastically but most of the teacher, teacher educators, social activists and the common man are not aware of the salient features of this Act. 2. Parents opinioned that their students are living schools because of Poor physical condition of the school Inadequate provision of school Lack of interest of parents Engagement of school going children in domestic works Unsuitable curriculum Absence of individualized instruction 3. Most of the schools do not receive needed cooperation from the community in each other affairs is marked. Although the teacher of some schools try to impress upon the guardians regarding the education of their children. 4. The Bill to provide free education for all children in the age-group 6-14 ensures that any child can demand provision of free education to him or her in his or her neighbourhood right upto the 8th class. It is also claimed that the state will provide compulsory elementary education. Here there is some confusion. Right to education implies that the parents of some children want to get their children educated but fail to do so because there is no school in the neighbourhood, or if there is a

69

school, the school is not of their choice or they cannot afford to pay the fees and/or bussing and other charges. Violation of the right implies that the parents are willing to get elementary education for their wards but are unable to do so for reasons beyond their capacity or control. Compulsory, on the other hand, implies that there are parents who are unwilling or unlikely to send the children for schooling even when the facilities in the interest for free education are available in their neighbourhood. The state can and should compel them to send their children to school in the interest of the future of the children, their family and the society as a whole. If, however, compulsion is on the state for providing free education, then it is implicit in the right to education itself. While it is true that a substantial number of students do not get education because there is no affordable school in the neighbourhood, specially in the tribal hilly areas and sparsely populated desert districts, in a very large number of cases education is not the first priority of the family. Survival is the top priority. Children working as rag-pickers, shoe-shine boys, domestic help, regular or contract or piece-wage workers in several kinds of factories and farmlands is a regular phenomenon all over India, especially in the poorer districts. 5. To attract and retain children of these families to/in schools is not possible through compulsion alone, nor is it a question of opening of schools in the neighbourhood. The children of these families remain uneducated because of the mere accident of their birth in such families. They must not be allowed to suffer for no fault of theirs. They have the right to be educated. The state has to step in. It should be noted that though often the trade-off between school and child labour has been underlined, the two activities need not be mutually exclusive. Education strategies should examine the possibility of combining work and school by reducing the duration of school to just half-a-day and/or by changing the school timings. Special problems require special solutions.

70

5.8

Education Implications A survey study of awareness of stake holders at Elementary Education

level provides an insight for quality improvement of elementary education. The following are the educational implications of the study. The act provides a platform to "reach the unreached", as it contains a specific provision for the deprived groups such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs or those who have a disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor. This act

is an essential step towards improving each child's accessibility to secondary & higher education, bringing India closer to achieving national educational development goals & fulfillment All(EFA). towards the campaign of education for

It seeks to provide for the duties of the local authorities, teachers,

parents, guardians, school authority, etc. The finding of the study will be helpful for the educational planners, administrators, social reformers, policy makers, NGOs, civil society groups etc. 5.9 Recommendations 1. There is a need to bridge the urban-rural imbalance inequality of education and teacher-student ratio. 2. It needs to be recognized that the challenges of elementary education is to somehow find a way to deal with the elusive triangle of access, equity and quality. 3. There is a need to reorient the teachers/workers, parents, social members and older siblings those who are really forefront of the future citizens of the nation about the importance of RTE Act, 2009. 4. It seems impossible to increase literacy and quality of education without the active involvement of community and awareness among people regarding Right to Education. 5. In order to strengthen the campaign against inequitable schooling, the first step is to prioritize and strengthen government schools across the country.

71

6. There should be a common platform where all the educationists, political leaders, bureaucrats, even common men share their opinions regarding the RTE Act. 5.10 Suggestions for further studies 1. The present study was confined to Bhubaneswar City of Khurda districts, Odisha. It is felt that this type of study can be extended to other districts of Odisha for a comprehensive understanding of the problem. 2. In this study, awareness of stake holders trends RTE Act, 2009 of only five elementary schools and one teacher training college have been analyzed. Awareness of others towards RTE Act, 2009 can be undertaken to have a better picture. 3. Awareness of stakeholders at center and state level can also be compared as a study. 4. In this study awareness of stakeholders was restricted to the school level, in further studies awareness of stakeholders at other grass roots levels like providing education to children in the age group of 0-6.can be taken up for further study. 5.11 Conclusion The well designed RTE Act, 2009 is enacted with a great fanfare and lofty goals, but its effective implementations are beset with dangers and difficulties. These problems, thus present administrative impediments in the way to impart free and compulsory education to the needy and targeted children. The state governments have yet to finalize their rules in the light of model rules formulated by the central government. The spectrum of implementation issues covering finances, accountability, monitoring, linguistic orientation and schools management need to be addressed forthwith. If India has to grow into a developed nation, it must put its 'House in order' in the form of high class education in primary, secondary, vocational and higher education. 72

"Right to Education is every childs Right" Your support can make it happen. Every child is a dream, hoping to be realized. Indian education is so uneven. Big picture and small picture to be tacked together. In the end we can say that the problems are solvable and the ways of doing are scalable. ******

73