Elementary Education

Inclusion, Equity and Elementary Education

For education to be truly inclusive and equitable, a strong political will and greater efforts are required on part of the government to ensure that all children are not just in school but receiving an education which they can relate to, which represents their experiences and enables them to make sense of their lives and things around them

Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) has been unequivocally accepted as an objective in all countries which have still not been successful in bringing all its school going children into the fold of a formal system of education. As an integral part of ‘right to life’, a life of self-respect and dignity, ‘right to education’ was recognised as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in 1993 itself (Unnikrishnan Vs State of Andhra Pradesh) but it took almost 16 years for the Constitution to be amended and the Right to Education to be enacted as a justiciable right in 2009. Despite its limitations, one of which is the most obvious exclusion of children under six and those above fourteen, it needs to be celebrated and mechanisms put in place to ensure that all children get good quality and meaningful education that they rightfully deserve. 

It must be noted that ‘inclusion and equity’ have several meanings in the context of education- all children, irrespective of their age, gender, region, religion, caste and class etc are able to access education (complete school cycle) of a formal type as against a part-time, short-term or non-formal education; all children receive an equitable, uniform and good quality education and; there is adequate and proper representation in the curriculum, syllabus and textbooks of the lives, experiences and worldviews of children studying in those schools. While the myriad meanings that ‘inclusion and equity’ imply are acknowledged by almost everyone, there are still innumerable challenges in translating them into reality. India on one hand revels in its rich geographical and cultural diversity and on the other hand, moans its deeply divided and hierarchical nature. With its multiple social contexts, a child has several identities and not all of them are a matter of pride to him because of the social placing of pegs (class, caste, gender, religion etc) onto which those identities are hinged. For instance, being an upper class, upper-caste, urban male is certainly considered to be superior to being a female, or belonging to a working class, low caste or tribal. While it is well known that there are complex ways in which these multiple identities actually interact with each other in real lives of these children, what is disturbing is the perpetuation of these social inequalities in the education system.

replica hermes

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Education-An Ambitious Aspiration

Education : An Ambitious Aspiration

Would it not be wiser to concentrate on school education and on raising the quality of higher education and gearing it more effectively to the country’s needs? Should we not use the excellent strategies in the plan presented by the Minister to gear education to facilitate the country’s advance in the global economy before we talk of making India the Education Super Power of the Future 

TTA conference on education entitled “Educationext-The Way Forward” held in Delhi earlier this year, the Minister for Human Resources Development Shri Kapil Sibal, in his inaugural address, launched the idea of India as "the Education Super Power of the Future". I could see that if used successfully these strategies could transform education in the country and make it the strong and powerful engine of advance that the country desperately needs in order to be able to forge ahead in today’s highly competitive global economy.

A four point program was outlined in the conference : (i) increasing enrolment in higher education from the existing 12.2 per cent of the population of the relevant age group to 30 per cent by 2025. (ii) the introduction of hundreds of new courses. (iii) the massive use of modern technologies for the delivery of education. And (iv) the inclusion of private players and the corporate sector as partners in the provision of education.

The principal strength of the plan is the idea of making an extensive use of technology. The five point program which runs as follows:

(1) Low cost devices such as tablets and mobile telephones

(2) The proliferation of cloud computing.

(3) Open education, provided through information technology highways.

(4) The provision of hundreds of courses with the idea of giving students extensive choice and the freedom to make combinations of their choice-for instance music and mathematics

(5) The creation of a communications structure designed to give students exposures such as hands on work experience, laboratory experimentation and research.

Finally to start with, 2.5 lakh villages will be connected with the use of fiber optics to create a powerful information highway.

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INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Making Inclusive Education A Reality

 

Inclusive education is primarily about restructuring school culture, policy and practice so that it responds to the diversity of students in the locality. It sees individual differences not as problems to be fixed, but as opportunities to enrich learning and embrace change 

 

“A society that has no vision for the education of children and youth

and is not prepared for the same, is doomed to die.”

....Mahatma Gandhi

                   

Education is the right of every child for that is what equips him to meet the challenges of life. Children with disabilities need this all the more, to supplement their different talents so that they can prepare themselves for a happy, productive and useful life. Apart from formal education, per se, children with disabilities have also to contend with several issues connected with their disability, such as attitude of the society, lack of employment opportunities and health concerns. These issues have been topics of deliberation at various fora within the country and across the world including the United Nations. It is widely recognized that much more needs to be done to integrate children and adults with disabilities in the mainstream. 

The Reality 

India has the second largest education system in the world, with more than 200 million school aged children. 6 to 14 years of these approximately 20 million (10 per cent) do not have access to regular education (as per NSSO 2002 & Census 2001). While the national average of enrolment in schools is over 90 per cent, less than five per cent of children with disabilities are enrolled in schools. Moreover, about 40 per cent of these children are not able to complete the first five years of basic education, while another 20 percent leave school prior to the completion of three years of free and compulsory schooling as mandated by our Constitution.

The Constitution of India enshrined that elementary education is a fundamental right of every child. The same has been reiterated in several international instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 and the Biwako Millennium Framework for action towards an inclusive, barrier-free and right-based society. The National Policy on education states - “In our national perception, education is essentially for all… Education has an acculturating role. It refines sensitivities and perceptions that contribute to national cohesion, a scientific temper and independence of mind and spirit”. The country also has a national policy for persons with disabilities framed by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. The policy reflects their concern and recognizes that persons with disabilities are a valuable human resource and seeks to create an environment which provides them equal opportunities, protects their rights and ensures full participation in social and community activities. This in itself includes children with disabilities. 

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Rights of the Child

Rights of the Child

 

All legislations for protection of child rights have to take categorical and unambiguous position on children’s rights, ensuring State commitment and obligation to provide all structures, institutions and processes for delivering services to children 

 

There is unanimity on the importance of protecting children and their right to freedom and dignity. It was enshrined in the Constitution of India. Yet there have been gross violations of children’s rights since independence and serious gaps in the delivery of services for children. There is a need therefore to understand the core principles for delivering services to children and an adherence to a rights based perspective. Recent enactments, such as the right to education act and protection of children from sexual offences have been child centric clearly emphasizing the rights of children. Some policies like the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) have also shown that decentralisation and involvement of the community and civil society as equal partners with the government are important components for effective realisation of children’s rights. 

Provisions for Children in Constitution of India 

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Girl Child in India

 

The opportunity to be born, opportunity to grow in a safe and secure environment, opportunity to develop ones’ full potential are some of the major issues concerning the girl children in India 

 

Achieving gender equality and empowering women is one of the important targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). With only three years to go for achieving these goals, many efforts are being made at the international and the national level. The United Nations Organisation as declared “October 11” as the International Day for the Girl Child since 2012. The day shall be   served every year. It is going to serve an important purpose of fetching the spotlight on the girl child and their problems. This activity aims to promote girl’s rights and highlight gender inequalities that exist between girls and boys. In 1995, during the World conference on Women in Beijing, the Beijing Platform for Action had resolved to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girl child and to  promote the rights of the girl child. Further, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the international commitment of the ‘World Fit for Children’ adopted by the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on Children in 2002, underline the efforts of the international community towards the growth and development of women and children.

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