Judiciary and Education

Education is the right of every child away from the boundaries of being rural or urban, rich or poor, marginalized or migrants.  The RTE since its implementation has also made its way through the country. The subject that I wish to share with the readers here pertains to the recent decision taken by Allahabad court which has raised an alarm especially in the clan of government employees. The employees now will have to admit their children in government schools only, failing which the government will extort the same amount that goes as fees of private schools, from their salary. It was so prudent on their part to have thought of such an imposition in the benefit of the children. Undoubtedly, this will improve the deplorable condition of the schools and also enhance the quality of education. Private schools that have seen a boom in the last decade and a half, became the choice of the elite on account of the facilities, quality of education and state-of-the-art infrastructure provided to the learner which further satisfied the parent who readily shelled out the required fee from their pockets. However, the government schools are unable to meet those investments and expenses, hence the deterioration. Kudos to the policies of liberalisation, that the people started withdrawing their wards from government schools to be admitted in private schools, which led to a major reduction in the number of students in government schools. Moreover, people also pondered about the exposure given in private schools that made their children globally more competent and self-reliant. In any case, a parent whether employed with government or private, will want every facility to be extended to his child. As a result these schools flourished and the other schools remained in the era of darkness. The staff too took all the advantage of such a condition of neglect. Absence from school or signing and moving out to complete personal errands, using the resources of the school and taking undue advantage of the same, no teaching spree, are some of the issues that necessitates to be addressed strongly, but the apathy of government is unable to curb and control all this clutter as their coffers remain filled. Consequently, even the rustics now are interested in sending their wards to private schools so that they become akin to the city dwellers. Not forgetting to mention that education bridges the gap, minimizing disparities.

Nevertheless, the persisting nagging question is about the interference of judiciary in this outlandish decision. Unfortunately, in our country the rules are made but never enforced, so the same happen with the above mentioned case and all of it went down the drain. It is relieving to note that the judiciary is concerned about the upliftment of the government school but on the other hand they are also putting the private schools under a strange scrutiny by not allowing them to increase the fee structure along with admissions under RTE being mandatory. This is like burning the candle at both ends, as the private schools do not compromise on the quality of education, infrastructure or facilities and much to their helplessness they also can not increase the fee to meet the recurring expenditures. Hence, there should be some justice for them so that they are able to meet the expenses, maintaining the benchmark.

Another point to ponder is the statutory decision of admission privilege to an RBSE student over a CBSE student by the government of Rajasthan, even when the RBSE one scores much less than the CBSE candidate. Besides that, there is an RBSE quota or reservation in refined terms. The case of a student scoring 86% in stream of humanities in CBSE was denied admission in a state college, whereas an RBSE with 64% was given the admission. This new percentile formula is indeed a blessing in disguise for the Rajasthan board students but has become a curse for the CBSE students. The reported number of admissions has drastically decreased in the colleges of the state as a result and the CBSE students are migrating to other states seeking admission in colleges of repute. This is clearly a case of alienation; a student of the state is not given admission only because he studied in Central Board. Ironically, the text books, curriculum and even the pattern of examination in both the education boards, is just the same. Now when there is no difference here, then why should the state government be so insensitive to the other board students’. The CBSE student is forced to migrate from his own state to the other which is causing brain drain or brain migration. Is it in any case justified? Why should we then expect these students to have empathy, affinity or any connection with the state? It is again a very arbitrary decision on the part of policy makers.

To add to this, the recent decision of some of the newspapers about not highlighting the news of achievements of private school students also has left everyone baffled. Whereas, the achievements of government school students, even if they are trivial, will be highlighted. This discrimination may be uninspiring for those zealous children private school students’ and their accomplishments will lie latent. Though the students will continue to reach their milestones and achieve success but if they are appreciated through a media, it will give them more motivation to seek further success as it will be justified to recognise their honest efforts. The implementation of such drastic decisions have there own implications and oppositions. Education is a fundamental right that can not be denied. Hence, the need of the hour is to bring about an awareness in the citizens who are also the stakeholders to persuade the policy makers for a more suitable path taking into consideration the pros and cons of such impulsive decision which might be challenging for a few, as every parent can not afford an undergraduate degree for his child from another state. There can be many more areas of genuine concern like eradication of illiteracy from the state, social upliftment of the underprivileged, controlling price hike etc; which require greater attention. The teachers and parents can voice their opinion in this regard and prevent the migration of hundreds of genius brains, who will certainly do good for the state.