Right to Education-Implementation
Challenges
Dr. Lalit Kumar
A long journey ended as the Right of Children
to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act,
2009 came into existence and became operative on
1st April, 2010. A journey of more than hundred
years from charter Act (1813) to Gokhale through
the case of Unnikrishanan & many other related
events to 86th Constitutional Amendment (2002)
ended by leaving implementation challenges
ahead. The challenge starts with the fact that
most of the stake-holders are not familiar with
the provisions and different sections of RTE Act.
Finance is another bigger issue along with scarcity
of trained manpower (teachers, guardians,
members of school management committee,
etc.) responsible for the implementation of the
right to education act. Lack of infrastructure and
resources, lack of knowledge of admission &
transfer related provisions among head-masters
& senior teachers, quality teaching, employment
of quality evaluation mechanism, lack of
coordination between different ministries & stake-
holders, inaction from the part of enforcing body,
ignorance of parents, demotivation of students
(specially of the students of marginalised group),
etc. are the challenges in the way of the proper
implementation of RTE. Making aware to the
stake-holders, arrangements of the coordination
among different ministries and related persons,
preparation and employment of trained and
dedicated teachers in good number, proper
community support and community involvement,
proper financial support by central government to
state governments (specially to the poor states),
motivating students, etc. are needed measures to
reinforce the RTE Act properly and purposefully.
Key words: Understanding RTE,
Implementation Challenges, RTE sections.
Rte-A Long Journey Concludes
Compulsory Education or Education to all
was not prevalent during ancient and medieval
India. During these periods education was not the
direct responsibility of any government or king.
Society or community use to manage education
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to its children and no doubt there was a defined
system of education, of course not so structured.
Social activists and social reformers thought in this
direction, but it is modern age which gave shape
to the concept like education to all, compulsory
education or right to education. Most of the
people consider that the primary education for all
and compulsory primary education as a concept
are the initiative of the British rule and Christian
missionaries. Some Indian scholars do not believe
in the same way and find Britishers responsible
for the destruction of Indian education system.
Lal, Sundar (1982) has written that before the
advent of east India Company the education was
managed by the village panchayat. The company
destroyed the system of Gram Panchayat and
ultimately the education system. Lal explaining
the merit of education system in India again
writes that one English education lover named
Dr. Andrew Bell observed the Indian education
system and implemented it to educate the children
of England after returning to his country.
In the history of modern India the charter act
of 1813 is an important stage. Under this act the
parliament directed the east India Company to
accept the responsibility of the education of Indian
people. The east India act of 1813 empowered the
Governor General of India to spend one lakh of
rupees each year for the purpose of education.
Perhaps this is the first legislative related to
the right to education, where it was decided
that public revenues will be available for the
arrangements of education. During British rule
enforcement of compulsory primary education
was undertaken by William Adam in 1838, who
was a Christian missionary and came India in
1818. He was appointed by Lord William Benlick
to report about the Vernacular education of the
people of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. Adam found
it impossible to implement compulsory education
as for that there was need of school in each
village. Captain Wingate the Revenue Survey
Commissioner in Bombay in 1852 forwarded a
more direct suggestion towards the demand of
Social Welfare l March 2019
 compulsory education. Mr. T.C. Hope (1858),
the education inspector of Gujrat, proposed for
opening of school. In 1884, ShriShastri, the deputy
education inspector of Broach also suggested the
introduction of compulsory primary education. In
fact enlighten Indians, Christian Missionaries and
some of the British Officers were keen to reinforce
the concept of compulsory education.
In England compulsory Education Act in 1870
was enforced and so a demand was also raised
to enforce it in India and all the colonies of the
Britain. Dadabhai Naoroji and Jyotirao Phule
from Bombay Presidency demanded to frame
laws to make primary education compulsory.
Hunter Commission (1982) also recommended
transferring the control and administration of
elementary education to local bodies as done in
England. The first effective step in introducing
compulsory Primary Education was taken only by
Naoroji when he put the demand before Hunter
Commission. Jyotirao Phule also enforced the
Commission to handover the responsibility of
Primary & Secondary Education to the people,
but the Commission did nothing precious in the
context. When Phule raised the issue of right to
education in 1882 he was not heard as British Raj
was busy in reaping the benefits of labour from
the poor and the upper class was using the money
to be spent on higher education. Under their
vested interest not only British Raj, but the Land
Owners, Nawabs and Upper Class People gave
a stiff opposition to this demand of Phule, and
no need to say about the result. Similar situation
occurred when in 1891, a proposal to this nature
was made to the Imperial Legislative Assembly
for free and compulsory education for all. It was
again the upper class and the ruling British. The
impact of these demands appeared positive when
in 1893, Prince Sir Sahaji Rao Gaikward of Baroda
introduced the scheme of free and compulsory
education as an experimental measure in his
AmrehiTaluka of his state. Later he extended this
policy to his entire state in 1896. In 1906, primary
education was made compulsory and free
throughout the state; for boys it was 6-12 years
of age and for girls it was 6 to 10 years of age.
Few other efforts at smaller level are found, but
the status of primary education did not changed
much.
Establishment of Indian National Congress in
1985 influenced the movement and the demand
got the right direction with the help of few leaders.
Social Welfare l March 2019
During the period Lord Curzon was trying to
embitter the condition of primary education in
his own Fashion. During the congress session in
1905, it was declared that to get proper education
is the birth right of Indian people. This resolution
opened a new chapter in the history of primary
education in India. In 1906, congress demanded
for national education for both boys and girls.
In the same session congress demanded to make
primary education free and gradually compulsory
all over the country. In the context of primary
education the first documented use of the word
“right” was used by Tagore in his letter written to
the International League for the rational education
of children in 1908. In 1910, Gokhale moved a
resolution in the Imperial Legislative Council and
demanded that free and compulsory education
be started, and for the same a commission be
appointed to frame proposals in the matter
of free and compulsory education. Again, in
1911 Gokhale in the same council introduced a
private bill through which he demanded to make
better provision for the extension of elementary
education in India. Speaking in the Imperial
Legislative Council he pointed out that no state
can ensure a general diffusion of education among
its people without making compulsion for it.
Vithalabhai Patel extended the work of
Gokhale further, and in 1915 he introduced a
bill in Bombay Legislative Council. In 1919,
when Government of India Act was passed, the
control of elementary education was transferred
to Indian ministers. In the decade, 1917-27 more
work was done in the direction of compulsory
education. Almost all the compulsory education
Act of British India provinces were conceived
or passed during this period. Wardha Scheme
of Basic Education (1937) of Gandhi was also a
step forward in the direction of universalisation
of elementary education. Second World War
adversely affected the movement of implementing
compulsory education, but in 1944, Sergent
plan recommended the provision of free and
compulsory education to all children in the age
group of 6-14 years. In 1948,the KherCommittee
under the chairmanship of B.G. Kher, the then
chief minister (then called premier) of Bombay,
recommended for compulsory education as
recommended by Sargent plan and a new era was
opened in the direction of compulsory education.
The KherCommittee recommendation formed
the basis of Article 45 of the Directive Principles
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 of Indian constitution. In 1937, when congress
came in power in seven states Gandhi, at a major
educational forum in Maharastra, tried to reason
with the newly appointed education ministers
of seven congress states that education for all
is absolutely essential for the betterment of the
country. Making fund crunch an issue ministers
denied. Later BR Ambedkar raised the issue and
tried for making right to education a fundamental
right, but the provision was not placed within the
category of a basic right as it was placed under
directive principle.
University Education Commission (1948-
49) said education is a universal right, not a
class privilege. All India Council of Elementary
Education (1957), a body established by
government of India, suggested proposals for the
development of elementary education keeping
in view Article-45 of Indian Constitution. Delhi
Primary Education Act, 1960 was an act to provide
for free and compulsory primary education for
children in the union territory of Delhi. Kothari
Commission (1964-66) advocated for common
school system and neighborhood school for the
development of elementary education in India.
New Education Policy (1968) also suggested for
compulsory elementary education. Keeping in
view the goals set out by the UN Declaration
of Rights of the child, the government of India
adopted the Resolution on the National Policy
for Children (1974). The right to education is a
fundamental human right explicitly stated in the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) adopted in 1948.
Forty Second Constitutional Amendments
helped the elementary education by shifting
education from state list to concurrent list.
Education for our people movement (1978)
focused on education for girls and also for part-
time education to help elementary education.
Draft National Policy on Education (1979),
Challenges of Education-A Policy Perspective
(1985), New Education policy (1986)-all suggested
for making primary education compulsory in
one way or another. Jomtein Declaration (1990),
World Declaration on Education for all, signed
by India along with Dakar Declaration (2000)
was a vital step that paved way to Right to Free
and Compulsory Education in India. Report of
the Ramamurti Committee (1990), Ratification of
the UN Convention on Rights of the Child (1992),
73rd& 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (1992)
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recommended for local bodies and tried to put
responsibility of education to Gram Panchayat-
all focused on compulsory primary education. In
two cases (1992, 1993) the Supreme Court finally
gave verdict in favour of Right to Education as
fundamental right. Judgment in these cases was
path opening event for right to education.
The Supreme Court first recognized the right
to education as a fundamental right in Mohini
Jain Vs Union of India (1992). The Supreme Court
in his verdict stated that right to education flows
directly from the right of life. The right to life
under Article-21 and dignity of an individual
cannot be assured unless it is accompanied by
the right to education. The court further directed
that the state government is under an obligation
to make endeavor to provide educational facility
at all levels to its citizen. In 1993,the Supreme
Court narrowed the ambit of fundamental right
to education as pronounced in Mohini Jain Case.
In an another case UnnikrishnanVs State of
Andhra Pradesh the Court stated that the right
to education is available to all children below
the age of 14 years, and the state government
has to manage for primary education. In case of
secondary education the implementation will be
subject to the economical capacity of the state.
Both these cases were not directly related to
primary education, but they made a road for the
enforcement of Right to Free and Compulsory
Primary Education a fundamental right.
Saikia Committee (1997) report resulted in
a bill to amend the constitution to introduce a
new Article 21-A lead for 83rd constitutional
amendment (1997) to insert article 21-A in
Indian constitution related to right to education
as fundamental right. 165th report on Free
and Compulsory Education for children by
Law Commission of India (1998), Reports of
the Tapas Majumdar Committee (1999), Dakar
Declaration (2000) to achieve the goal of free and
compulsory Primary Education by 2015, Ambani
& Birla Committee Report (2000), Millennium
Development Goals (2000) to achieve universal
school education by 2015, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan,
etc. gave direction to the movement of Right to
Free and Compulsory Primary Education. 86th
constitutional amendment Bill was passed in
2002 to make Free and Compulsory Primary
Education a fundamental right. Before 2009 when
the Free and Compulsory Primary Education Act
was passed, Free and Compulsory Education
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 for Children Bill (2003, 2004) came. Right to
Education Bill 2005, Sachar Committee Report
(2006), Report of the National Knowledge
Commission (2007), The Right of Children to Free
and Compulsory Education Bill (2008) were other
stations through which the Right to Education
movement crossed. Acceptance of the Bill (2008)
in 2009 and implementation of the RTE on 1st
April, 2010 was the final destination of this long
and tiring journey – the journey supported &
flagged by many dignitaries. India has one third
of the world’s illiterate population, India is one
country among the 15 countries having three
fourth of out-of-school children and India is the
home of 19% of the World’s Children. These fact
is the indicator of the fact that how important
RTE is for this nation, especially when we have
failed to achieve Millennium Development
Goals, and if we could not implement RTE act
properly we may not be able to attain Sustainable
Development Goals within the stipulated period
of time, Rai, Ambarish (2016) also thinks in same
way, “without strengthening RTE Act, 2009 and
its complete implementation within a new time
limit, it will be difficult to achieve the sustainable
development goals (SDGs)”.
Understanding RTE
In the history of Indian education 1st, April,
2010 became a great day as the nation made Right
of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
(RTE) Act, 2009 operative. The Right to Education
Act pronounces that every child in the age group
of 6 to 14 years will get free and compulsory
education in a nearby school i.e., to get free and
compulsory education for the said group is the
fundamental right of the target group. The act
says about the financial burden that the related
state and the central government will take care
of it. The act also directs the private institutions
to reserve 25% of the seats for students belonging
to the weaker sections of the society. The act does
not allow the institutions to fell or expelled any
of the student.Section-4 of the provisions of the
Act provides children above six years, who have
either not been admitted to any school or, having
been admitted have not completed elementary
education and have dropped out, the right to be
admitted to a school in a class appropriate to his
or her age for completing elementary education.
Section-3 says that in providing for the right of
every child to free and compulsory education in a
neighborhood school, but the act does not restrict
Social Welfare l March 2019
to the child to take admission in the neighborhood
school only. It is being criticized that Children
with Special Needs and religious group children
have not been included in RTE. Prakash, Satya
(2015) concludes, “Some people have suggested
that religious education should be imparted to
children in Madrsa or Vedic schools only after
school hours. But the best solution would be not
to allow children to go to any religious school
until they are 14-the age up to which they have
to be compulsorily in formal schools.” Section-5
provides children the right to seek transfer
from a government or government aided school
to another such school in order to complete
elementary education and for immediate issue of
Transfer Certificate to a child seeking admission
to another school. Section-6 talks for universal
access and requirement of school facilities.
Section 7(1)-5 provides for financial and other
responsibilities for the central government and
the state governments. Section 7(6) is related
to the formulation of a national curriculum
framework for which the central government has
notified the NCERT as the designated authority.
Section-8 assigns duties to the appropriate
government to ensure that they are providing free
and compulsory elementary education to every
child in a neighborhood school.
The National Commission for Protection
of Child Right (NCPCR) has to monitor the
implementation of RTE. NCPCR also invites
the different groups working for society and
all conscious individual to come forward to
help to ensure that every child of the country
is in school for eight years (6-14 yrs.) of quality
education. Section-9 of the provisions of the act
assigns duties to the local authority to ensure
that free and compulsory elementary education
is provided to every child in a neighborhood
school. It also assigns duties to the local authority
to ensure that the children of weaker sections
and disadvantaged groups are not discriminated
against and prevented from pursuing and
completing elementary education. Section-10
of the provisions casts a moral responsibility on
every parent/guardian to admit their children/
wards to school, and ensure that children are not
deprived of their right to elementary education.
This includes child labor, children in ecologically
deprived areas where they are required to fetch
fuel, water, fodder and do other household
chores, children in very poor slum communities
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 and uprooted urban habitations, children of
families of scavengers and other such stigmatized
professions, children of itinerant or seasonal
labour who have mobile and transient lifestyle
like construction workers, road workers and
workers on large construction site, children of
landless agriculture labour who are required to
augment family incomes. Section-11 provides that
the appropriate government may make necessary
arrangements for pre-school education Section-12
is related to 25% reservation to weaker section
students. Section-13 provides that no school or
person shall collect capitation fee or subject a
child to any screaming procedure, and prescribes
a penalty or contravention of these provisions.
Section-14 seeks to provide for proof of age
certificate of a child and that admission cannot be
denied in its absence.Section-15 prohibits schools
from denial of admission to a child, irrespective of
the time in the academic year in which admission
is sought. Admission of a child in school is a
fundamental right and it cannot be denied at
any point of time.Secton-16 prohibits holding
back and expulsion of a child from school till the
attainment of elementary education. Section-17
prohibits any child being subjected, to physical
punishment or mental harassment. Section-19
lays down the norms and standards for schools.
Section-21 provides for constitution and functions
of a School Management Committee in certain
categories of schools. The RTE act envisages
that parents would form a majority in the
School Management Committees, which would
also include elected members of the Panchayat
and school teachers. Section-22 provides for
preparation of a School Development Plan
(SDP) by the School Management Committee.
Secton-23 provides for qualifications and terms
and conditions of service of school teachers.
The central government has notified NCTE as
the academic authority for prescribing teacher
qualifications. Section-24 provides for duties of
teachers as to attend school regularly to transact
the syllabus in time, to provide supplementary
support to needed children, to make assessment
of children’s learning and to interact with parents.
Section-25 seeks to provide for maintenance
of pupil teacher ratio, by the appropriate
government and local authority. The provision
also provides that teacher shall not be deployed
for non-academic work, barring those specified
in Section-27. Section-26 provides that vacancies
in schools should not exceed 10% of the teacher
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strength for that school. Section-27 prohibits
deployment of teachers for non-educational
purposes, other than decennial population
census, disaster relief duties or duties related to
elections to local authority, state legislatures and
parliament. Section-28 prohibits private tuition
by teachers. Section-29 provides for curriculum
and evaluation procedure in elementary school.
Section-30 provides that no child shall be required
passing Board Examinations till completion of
elementary education. This is to save the child
from stress and anxiety. Secton-31 provides an
institutional mechanism for protection of rights of
the child through the National/State Commissions
for Protection of Child Rights. It further states that
for children in school, monitoring will involve
the issues like provision of neighborhood school
(Classrooms, Infrastructure, Pupil-Teacher-Ratio,
School Hours, etc.), access to school (physical &
social), admission process (Denial, capitation
fee, screening, demand of affidavits, any time
admission), entitlements (textbooks, uniforms,
equipped library with books, newspapers,
magazines, sports & play equipments, mid-day
meal, training for age-appropriate education,
transfer & completion certificates and other
expenses), class-room transaction (discrimination,
corporal punishment, teaching methods,
evaluation) and school management committee
appointments as per rules, regular meetings,
teacher accountability, preparation of school
development plan and other responsibilities from
the part of SMC.Section-32 provides a mechanism
for redressal of grievance relating to rights of the
child under the proposed act. Section-33 provides
for constitution of a National Advisory Council
to give expert advice to the central government
on implementation of provisions of the proposed
act. Section-34 provides for the constitution
of State Advisory Councils to advice the state
governments on the implementation of the act.
Section-35 provides for the central government to
issue guidelines and directions to the appropriate
government or local authority for effective
implementation of the proposed act. It also
provides for the appropriate government to issue
guidelines and directions to local authorities, and
for local authorities to give guidelines to school
management committees. Section-36 provides
for previous sanction of an authorized officer
for prosecution of offences. Section-37 provides
protection, against any legal suit or proceedings,
to appropriate government, local authority, etc. for
Social Welfare l March 2019
 any action taken in good faith. Section-38 provides
powers to the appropriate government to make
rules and for laying of rules and notifications
made, before each house of parliament. Despite
the Act, provisions and sections of the Act, the
present state of RTE and its implementation much
needs be done.What Ojha, seema S (2013) in one
of her study found is still the reflection of RTE
implementation today, “Government has enacted
and implemented the Act in the right spirit
towards providing quality elementary education
to all most of the investigated schools are able
to fulfill basic infrastructure except a few but
with regard to curriculum, assessment, teacher
training and other related issues they are lagging
far behind. The observation and findings from
the interview and questionnaire show a wide gap
between what was expected and what has so far
been done.”
RTE : Implementation Challenges
If we analyze the above Section of the RTE
Act we can easily find some constraints related
to its implementations. The implementation
constraints are associated with financial
requirements, School Management Committee,
School Development Plan, lack of awareness
among the target groups regarding RTE Act and
its different sections, 25% reservation of seats
in private schools, supplementary support to
needed children, save the child from stress and
anxiety, lack of coordination among different
implementing agencies, infrastructure, quality
education, professionally sound teachers, teacher-
student ratio, checking of capitation fee and
screening, training for age-appropriate education,
transfer & completion certificates, redressal of
grievance of child related to RTE Act, prosecution
of offences, children admission, dropout among
children, lack of education among the mass, child
labour, arrangements of pre-school education,
deployment of teacher at other places for non-
academic work, exceeding the vacancies of
school teachers more than 10% of the teachers
strength, prohibition of private tuition by
teachers, modernizing and updating curriculum
& evaluation mechanism, non-detention policy,
cold responses from the part of national/state
commissions for protection of child rights etc.
Mandal, Sayantan too has many challenges before
the education system which is also related to the
implementation of RTE Act, 2009, “However, on
the flipside, the dropout rate in the elementary
Social Welfare l March 2019
level is still alarming, the quality of education
is questionable and the actual inclusion of
disadvantaged children by the private schools
of the country is under scrutiny. In addition,
poor central-state coordination, malpractices in
Teacher Eligibility Tests (TET) sometimes causes
barriers in the outreach of the RTE in true sense
and fails to deliver the anticipated outcome.”
Lack of education among the mass and
especially among the parents/guardians of the
children is a big challenge in the implementation
of RTE Act as this hinders formation of school
Management Committee & School Development
Plan and simultaneously leaves the stake-holders
unaware regarding the different provisions of
RTE Act. Finance is a vital issue as state like Bihar,
Orissa, etc. need the financial help from central
government in the ratio of 90:10 like north-east
states instead of 65:35. Without sufficient fund
implementation of pupil-teacher ratio, separate
toilet for girl students, quality teachers training,
sufficient infrastructure, etc. is not possible.
Quoting a NUEPA study Anija, Neena (2015)
also thinks in the same way, “It is going to be a
challenge to provide the requisite infrastructure
that the Act expects basic facilities like access to
drinking water is also lacking in many schools.
The Act stipulates a play ground for every
school. Look at the current scenario it looks like
it is going to be extremely challenging to provide
the necessary infrastructure and that too with an
increased intake of teachers and students.”
Lack of coordination among various
implementing agencies is a vital challenge in the
implementation of the Act as police, local bodies,
child right commission and other implementing
body do not coordinate and penalize properly.
RTE Act is associated with different ministries
and at times hindrances occur in taking a decision
or coordinating for implementation. Child labour
is also a big issue as a large portion of children
manage for their family food.Special training
for late admitted students or admission in age
appropriate class & train them to enable at par
with other children is a challenge which needs
teachers extra effort. Poorly paid and already
overloaded teachers cannot do justice with this
expectation.
Enforcement of 25% quota for weaker sections
of the society is another bigger challenge as it has
not implementation challenges only, rather it is
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 being questioned due to the nature of the act. This
provision leads many questions like what about
the uncomfortable state of quota admitted under-
privileged children with the children of the upper
economic strata? What about the education of the
remaining students of the disadvantaged group of
the neighbourhood school? Why quality education
(if provided by private schools) is limited to the
25% of disadvantaged group children, not to the
mass ? Elite schools charge fees under many heads,
other than the tuition fee. Can the poor guardians
manage for fees under different heads, which
is a huge amount for the parents/guardian of
the weaker section students ? What about the ill-
equipped private schools in the neighbourhood
and its poor quality education (if it is) inferior to
the expected & desired level? What will happen
to poor students admitted in private schools after
8th standard as this facility has been provided
to 8th class education only? Who will take the
responsibility of the failure of this RTE Act like
the failure of Article-45, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan,
Operation Black Board and other related schemes?
Rao, TS (2015) has rightly raised question in the
similar fashion, “If RTE Act, after all allows only a
few children from poorer sections good education,
in selected private schools, but turns a blind eye to
the condition of education made available to the
vast majority of the poorer sections of the legislation
subscribe to macaulay stricle down policy in
education, and hope that the few lucky children
would change the face of the downtrodden in the
society ?” A group of educationists, teachers, social
activists, right to education activists also think that
this 25% reservation destroys the autonomy of
private schools.
It is a good step to save the children from
stress and anxiety by applying no detention
policy, but is it not the responsibility of the
education system to make them capable to
handle pressure, failure, anxiety or stress for
preparing them for a successful life? There are
complains that private schools charge capitation
fees for education in primary schools. There are
schools that even demand donations at the time
of admission. Physical punishment is being
given by some schools and teacher-taught ratio is
1:40 and even more instead of 1:30. Demand for
more teachers have affected the teacher quality.
Appointment of Para or contractual teachers have
further diluted the quality of teaching. NCF (2005)
suggests in the matter, “Attempts at curricular
24
reform have not been adequately supported by
the teacher education. Large-scale recruitment
of Para-teachers has diluted the identity of the
teacher as a professional”. NCF further laments
that the professional development of teachers
remains unaddressed. Tuition is common
among students and in many cases teachers of
the children are giving him tuition. In one of the
study Upadhyaya, Amar and Senapati, Niakhi
(2016) found that students are taking tuition.
They conclude, “The study also revealed that out
of 200 sampled students, 106 students were taking
tuition and among them 12 students were taking
tuition with their school teachers.” Children
evaluation is another area which is a challenge as
no detention policy and all round development
donot supports each other. Our system is largely
focused on scholastic aspect, though evaluation
of non-scholastic aspect, simultaneously may
prepare the learners for many challenges of life.
Implementation of RTE has many challenges
in its way as Children With Special Needs
(CWSN) do not come under the preview of RTE
Act; There is gender-Bias in the matter of out of
school children; The age group is 6-14, not 0-18
as expected through Sustainable Development
Goals; RTE Act is input oriented as it lacks focus on
quality of learning and supply of properly trained
devoted teachers; admission according to age is
not supported by the provision of offering bridge
course to equalize pupil on the learning scale, and
many more. India, the land of young population
and home of 19% of the world’s children,
desperately needs the implementation of the RTE
Act properly to nurture its young population as
human capital. In the matter to overcome these
discussed challenges is itself a big challenge, but it
is a must as India’s one-third population is below
the age of 18, and 74% of its population resides
in rural India. First Crayon (2017) finds seven
challenges of RTE, “Some of the major challenges
that the Indian education system is facing today
are: (1) Lack of quality in government schools,
(2) High disparity in quality of private schools,
(3) Teacher absenteeism , (4) Lack of teacher
training, (5) Lack of vocation-focused curriculum
development, (6) Over emphasis on rote-learning
( remnants of the British era and industrial
revolution and (7) Corruption, nepotism, and
lack of transparency. These challenges have been
manifested themselves in the learning outcomes
for children.”
Social Welfare l March 2019
 Measures to Overcome RTE Implementation
Challenges
The above discussion reveals many challenges
in the implementation of RTE Act, and it is essential
to overcome these challenges. Certain measures
need to be taken to encounter hindrances in the
smooth implementation of RTE Act as follows:
y to make the mass educated and aware them
with all the important sections of the RTE
and specially to the parents/guardians of the
target groups.
y to provide supplementary support to needed
children and introduce bridge course to
equalize pupil on learning scale.
y to evaluate the learners properly and
intelligently to save them from the fear of
failure and simultaneously to make them
capable to handle the pressure.
y to establish proper coordination among
different implementing agencies.
y to arrange for sufficient infrastructure and
other related facilities like safe drinking water,
separate toilets for girls, etc.
y to check strictly the implementation of RTE
provisions and arrange for punishment in
case of violation.
y to extend the limit of RTE for the age group
0-18 years.
y to manage dropout among children from
schools and minimise child labour to zero level.
y to employ quality teacher with full strength
and not deploy them at other places for non-
academic work.
y to take care of teachers training and
professional development of teachers to do
away them from the act of tuition.
y to do away the problems related to School
Management Committee and School
Development Plan by providing expert help
when needed.
y to arrange due help by central government
to poor states to implement RTE provisions
smoothly.
y to manage good quality education to all by
improving the standard of government schools.
y to make 25% reservation justifiable.
Social Welfare l March 2019
y to manage pupil teacher ratio to desired level
of 30:01 and check physical punishment given
to the children &donation to be demanded by
the schools.
y to include the Children With Special Needs
and Religious Groups in the preview of RTE
Act.
y to manage gender bias & bias against
downtrodden to implement RTE in its true
spirit.
y to check teacher absenteeism strictly and
employ vocation oriented curriculum on the
line of Basic Education.
y to focus on activity based learning to retain the
child in schools and channelise their potential
properly.
y to manage for transparency and check
corruption and nepotism.
y to manage for the all-round help of the
upper class of the society to shoulder the
implementation of RTE Act.
y to employ ICT in class-room presentation to
motivate learners.
y to use appropriate methods of teaching in
teaching.
y to provide all necessary entitlements to the
children.
Implementation of Right to Education Act
is a major challenge before the Indian education
system and simultaneously for the Indian society
& community; and for this, joint effort of stake-
holders and all other responsible citizen of the
country is needed. Kumar, Lalit (2014) has rightly
concluded, “In the implementation of RTE act
government, teachers, schools, community,
elected representives and students have to work
together.” Verma, Roop Rekha (2016) reacts in
the same manner, “for fulfilling the provisions of
Right to Education Act, it is very crucial that all
the stakeholders come together in a participatory
style.”
References
1. Anija, Neena (2015), “Right to Education (RTE) :
Factors Affecting Its Implementation in India”,
Contemporary Research in India, 05(03),
https://www. contemporaryrescarchindia.
net/pdf/september-2015/12.pdf.
25
 2. First Crayon (2017), “Challenges of RTE, “The
Essential Guide to Universal Education (RTE
in India, https://blog.firstcrayon.com
3. Kumar, Lalit (2014), “CSS and RTE for Quality
School Education”, Common School System
& Right to Education, A Book Published by
PeriyarPrakashan, Delhi-Patna, 242-253.
4. Lal, Sundar (1982),
“BhartiyaShikshaKaSarvnash”, Bharat
Men Angreji Raj-part-II, PrakashanVibhag,
Soochana Aur Prasaran Mantralay, Bharat
Sarkar, 682-703.
5. Mandal,Sayantan (2015), “Right to Education
: The Road Travelled and the Way Ahead”,
64(02), Kurukshetra, December, 10-13.
6. NCF (2005), “Present Concerns in Teacher
Edcuation”, NCERT, New Delhi, 107.
7. Ojha, Seema S (2013), “Implementing Right to
Education: Issues and Challenges”, Research
Journal of Educational Sciences, 1(2), May,
1-7, www.isca.in.
8. Prakash, Satya (2015), “Primary Education
First, Religious Later”, Hindustan Times
Daily, July, 07.
Are Women Really Empowered?
Suman Bajpai
T hese days everyone is talking about women
empowerment and as Woman’s day is
approaching, this issue once again emerges from
the nook of the every aspects related with women.
Everyone including a certain political leader
keeps talking about empowering women. But are
we really going about it the way we should? But
a question arises which makes a lot of sense today
and did not earlier, what is it about empowering
women?
The widespread belief is that she is
independent, she is capable of reaching the skies,
and she is unstoppable. But then why she should
26
9. Rai, Ambarish (2016), “National Consultation
of RTE:SDG and Implementation of RTE Act
2009”, Right to Education Forum, https://
rteforumindia.org/ content/national-
consultation-rte-sdg-and-implementation
-rte-act2009.
10. Rao, TS (2015), “Thoughts on the RTE Act
The Act, a Reflection of the Failures of the
System”,Edutracks, 14(10), June, 7-10.
11. Upadhyaya, Amar &Senapati, Niakhi (2016)”,
“Implementation of RTE Act 2009 in the
Elementary Schools of Assam”, Edutracks,
15(08), April, 38-40.
12. Verma, RoopRekha (2016), “National
Consultation of RTE : SDG and
Implementation of RTE Act 2009”, Right to
Education Forum, https://rteforumindia.
org/content/national-consultation-rte-sdg-
and-implementation-rte-act2009.
Professor Quarter No.01, Patna Training College
Campus, Dariapur, Patna-800004,
Faculty of Education Patna University, Patna
not travel alone late at night, and how Deepika and
Priyanka made a bad choice of clothes at so and so
event, and about the change in society’s perception
of women, when you read everyday a story on
rape. India, with all its hype about being the fastest
growing country in the world, is one of the most
unsafe countries for women. Everyday there are
reports of violence against women in the news. The
empowerment of women cannot happen without a
change of attitude of men towards women.
The study conducted in India was preceded
by another study conducted in Hong Kong and it’s
been observed that women in both the geographies
referenced how traditional family roles,
Social Welfare l March 2019