Divide between school-goers, those who dont

CHENNAI: The country’s biggest division is not based on caste or income but is between those who going to school and those not. This assertion, coming from Dr Shantha Sinha, a leading advocate for child rights and the chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, set the tone for the south-level consultation on ‘Realisation of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009’, here on Friday.In her inaugural address, Dr Shantha Sinha said, “Let us not underestimate the power of education. It is education that bridges inequalities. It is education that is the tool for social and political democratisation.”As per official statistics, out of the 250 million children in India of school-going age, 80 lakh are out of school. But Dr Shantha dismissed these figures as a gross underestimation. She said, “If only 80 lakh children were out of school, there would be no need for RTE Act. Why do we need SSA? Unless we are willing to correct ourselves, recognise the lies and become careful in bringing out correct figures, we won’t be able to achieve the goal.”To start with, she said, “We have to start counting children at the local level, at villages, at panchayats. And forget about the numbers given by the government at the state and country level.”As the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights plays a monitoring role in ensuring implementation of  RTE Act, she raised some of the concerns that had been brought to its attention.  “The complaints we receive are unique. Why do we have to pay fees? As per the RTE, there are no fees. Why they have detained me in the same class, while there is a no-detention policy under the RTE?  I was eliminated in the screening test, and RTE says there is no screening test for admission. We know lots of children who drop out due to the school’s insistence on birth certificate and TCs, which are cumbersome to get, while RTE prescribes that no documents are required for admission,” she said.  The RTE Act, on the positive side, has empowered people and children to raise such questions, she observed.