India: Winner in Delhi State election commits to the right to education
Education activists working to implement children’s right to education in India have welcomed the parliamentary election landslide victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in the State of Delhi.
The right of all Indian children to free and compulsory education is enshrined in the Right to Education (RTE) Act adopted by the Indian federal Parliament in 2009.
The Aam Aadmi Party (“Common Man's Party”- AAP), which won 67 out of a possible 70 seats during the Delhi State’s Parliament elections on 10 February, has stressed its commitment to the RTE.
“Within three days, the government managed to get data with the help of volunteers to take stock of the compliance of over 900 government schools with the RTE Act's infrastructure norms,” said Kumar Ratan of National Coalition for Education (NCE).
The NCE is a conglomeration of networks working on the right to education, including Education International’s (EI) Indian affiliates, such as the All India Primary Teachers’ Federation (AIPTF), the All India Federation of Teachers’ Organisations (AIFTO), All India Secondary Teachers’ Federation (AISTF), and the All India Association for Christian Higher Education (AIACHE).
Community involvement
Ratan added that while the volunteer system undermined the school management committees (SMCs), it showed the AAP’s willingness to actively involve the community in the running of schools.
Under the provisions of the 2009 RTE Act, the role of community in school governance has been ensured through SMCs, consisting of parents, teachers, members of the legislative assembly, i.e. people’s representatives, he detailed. SMCs also have a very significant role to play in preparing school development plans.
“We suggested to the government that it is better to abide by the RTE Act’s provisions and promote SMCs in school governance rather than volunteers,” he underlined. “SMCs are legal and more stable than volunteers usually belonging to AAP or pro-AAP. In a volunteer system, there is no set place for teachers in school governance, whereas SMCs have a fixed composition and well-defined membership – parents, teachers and people's representatives.”
The NCE also commended Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister, who also continues to manage the education portfolio, along with finance, whose first move was to stop the public private partnership project planned by a municipal body. “Sisodia has repeatedly stated that education is the state's responsibility,” Ratan said. “The AAP win is good news, but they should uphold legal arrangements like school management committees and not further marginalise them.”
Sisodia made an early impression in his new role, announcing today that the government aims to allocate 20% of its budget to education.
The private school sector has also reacted to AAP's victory with cautious optimism, and private school associations, like the National Progressive Schools Conference, have affirmed their willingness to assist the government.
