RtE Act and inclusive and discrimination-free schools

Abstract

Children being non-essential or a weak constituency have no ‘ballot value’ for policy makers and perhaps this is one of the reasons why it took so long to legislate on universal elementary education. They are non-actors and have very little room to negotiate in an indirect and representative democracy. Despite the fact that children are the only beneficiaries of this fundamental right, they are often at the receiving end. It makes evolution of an inclusive education system a very difficult task. Their needs are often conceived from the point of view of parents, families, caste, tribes, community and society, who generally are carriers of ethos, values, mores and culture but not the only ones. They may not necessarily always be in sync with the constitutional ethos and usually patriarchal, feudal, caste-ist and communal/religious and are based on exclusion and largely discriminatory in nature. The Position Paper on SC and ST and Girl’s Education, by NCF-NCERT and Justice Rajindar Sachar Commission’s Reports attest that SC, ST, religious minorities and girl child are subjected to discriminatory practices in elementary schools leading to low enrollment and high dropout