Rights of children secured, time to restore teachers’ dignity and pay

Rights of children secured, time to restore teachers’ dignity and pay 

    From time immemorial, centrality of education in nurturing a child’s future and preparing him to be a responsible citizen has had universal acceptance. Nineteenth century French poet, statesman and human rights activist Victor Hugo had said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” By prison he meant dogmas, discrimination and abuse in addition to several facets of the curse of illiteracy. 
    Framers of our Constitution, who were great visionaries, were aware of the importance of Hugo’s statement, but surprisingly did not consider including education within the fundamental rights chapter. But they made amends by advising states through Article 45 to make provision for free and compulsory education of children up to 14 years. 
    The Supreme Court in Mohini Jain case in 1992 picked Article 45 as an integral part of child’s inherent right and pronounced it to be akin to a fundamental right. The legitimacy of this pronouncement was strengthened by the SC in Unnikrishnan’s judgment the next year. 
    Since 1993, several legislative attempts were made, which 10 years later fructified in making right to education of children a fundamental right by insertion of Article 21A in Constitution. Another decade later, the SC played its constitutionally mandated role to do complete justice and upheld the validity of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, a law enacted with vigorous push from HRD minister Kapil Sibal. 
    The law opens a new vista in education system in India as it intends to create inclusive classrooms where the children of deprived and downtrodden could study in a neighbourhood school alongside the wards of the elite and the rich. Will an education system be considered robust by securing only the children’s rights and privileges? Is it not time to restore the dignity of teachers who were traditionally given the respect second only to the king? 
    In the era of privatization, would the teachers get their due dignity without a respectable pay? Without the teaching profession being among the highest paid jobs, would it attract the talent needed to nurture the future of the children? If we do not get competent teachers because of inadequate salaries, what is the use of opening schools in every village? Commercialization of education in the last two decades has not helped in improving the plight of the teachers. Nearly 50 years ago, the SC had raised this question in University of Delhi vs Ram Nath [1964(2) SCR 703]. 
    The SC had said education was not an industry. “From a rational point of view it would be regarded inappropriate to describe education even as a profession.Education in its true aspect is more of a mission and a vocation rather than a profession or trade or business.” 
    The court had argued that if education sought to build the personality of students by assisting their physical, intellectual, moral and emotional development, then the teacher’s plight should get adequate attention of the authorities. It said, “Under the sense of values recognized both by the traditional and conservative as well as the modern and progressive social outlook, teaching and teachers are, no doubt assigned a high place of honour and it is obviously necessary and desirable that teaching and teachers should receive the respect that is due to them. 
    “It cannot be denied that the concept of social justice is wide enough to include teaching and teachers, and the requirement that teachers should receive proper emoluments and other amenities, which are based on social justice, can’t be disputed.” 
    Many school managements are taking advantage of the job scarcity scenario and making teachers take home a much lower amount than the salary promised to them. It has a deleterious effect on the education system. A disgruntled teacher is unable to give his/her best in the school and to make ends meet gives private tutorials putting huge workload on self. As in the Right to Education Act, it was made mandatory for all schools to admit students from socially, educationally and economically weaker sections, the government must think, as a first step, to enact a law which binds all private schools to pay the teachers the promised salary.

Source:Times of India