All-pass alarm spreads

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, May 9: Several voices rose in the Lok Sabha today against the no-detention clause in the Right to Education (RTE) Act, broad-basing a debate that was so far confined to some schools in cities. Many MPs felt that the policy of unhindered promotion till Class VIII would prove disadvantageous to children in rural areas as they grow up as schools in villages have stopped holding annual examinations. One MP went to the extent of saying that the no-detention clause would make the children fit only for the rural job guarantee scheme known as MGNREGA. The RTE Act says that no child should be held back till he or she completes Class VIII. Although the rules provide for introduction of continuous and comprehensive evaluation, the MPs complained that such an assessment is not taking place in rural schools. RJD leader Lalu Prasad said schools in rural areas were not holding any examinations, making the students “non-serious” about studies. “Schools are not holding any examination in rural areas. It is a conspiracy against children from the rural areas. When the people in rural areas will know about it, the country will witness a strong movement,” Lalu Prasad told the House. Jharkhand Vikash Morcha leader Ajay Kumar said many government schools in Jharkhand were not holding examinations in any class. “The children from our states will end up being labourers in the MGNREGA (the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme. They cannot compete with the urban children,” he said. HRD minister Kapil Sibal said the no-detention policy did not bar a school from conducting assessments. The debate followed Sibal’s introduction of amendments to the RTE Act. The amendments, which were passed, aim to include physically challenged children in the disadvantaged groups that are entitled to 25 per cent reservation in private schools. Sibal said seriously disabled children would be entitled to “home-based education” at government cost — a proposal that raised eyebrows. Two young MPs, Congress’s Priya Dutt and NCP’s Supriya Sule, opposed the provision for home-based education for disabled children. “Home-based education will be detrimental. We are giving the option to parents to keep the disabled children back home. Let us remove this option,” Dutt said. Sule said parents may not be willing to bring their disabled child to school and may keep them back home on the pretext of home-based education. Sibal said his ministry would set up a committee to consider the criticism against the home-based education provision. The committee will suggest detailed guidelines outlining who should benefit from such a provision and how to check its misuse. Other amendments passed today exempt educational institutions imparting religious instruction, such as madarsas and Vedic pathasalas, from the RTE Act and lay down that the school management committees in aided minority schools shall function only in an advisory capacity. Lalu Prasad’s RJD members walked out of the House to protest the lack of provision in the law to improve education of Muslim girl Source: The Telegraph