Tuesday, 22 November 2011 00:19
DEVELOPMENT DEFICIT
BY Sudarshan Chhotoray
Sukanti Munda (10) belongs to Pichhilabeda village in Swampatna block of Keonjhar district. She has five brothers and two sisters, but they all live under abject poverty.
Sukanti collects sal leaves from forest and makes leaf plates, while her mother Gambhari Munda becomes a member in a SHG and participates in income generating activities. Now, she sends Sukanti to Sradha Bahavan run by People’s Cultural Centre (PECUC).
Similarly, Padar Munda (15), son of Hari Munda of Bhaliadala village in Swampatna block of Keonjhar district, discontinues his study and is taken to Goa by a relative Rainmon Munda, a contractor. Without the permission of his family, he engages Padar as a labourer. Even, Rainmon does not allow the boy to speak over phone to his family members.
When Padar’s father Hari Munda becomes a member of Child Right Protection Committee (CRPC) and shares his sufferings before the CRPC, the boy is brought back home safe. Now, he is admitted to a school again.
An information collected through volunteers and RTI workers of Khaprakhol block of Bolangir district through Voice of Child Right Odisha (VCRO) in September 2011, reveals there are 153 elementary schools running in the block, including 96 primary (I-V), 51 PS+UPS (I-VIII) and 6 UPS (V-VIII). Here, 12,677 students are studying.
Teachers’ position in primary school is 161, PS+UPS 216 and 18 in the UPS. Nearly half of the teachers (47 per cent) are untrained posted in the schools. Their volume is increasing rapidly since last four to five years, says Golap Nial, an activist.
Deficiency of teachers and a huge number of untrained teachers are crippling primary education of Khaprakhol block. Other issues like lack of infrastructure, non-availability of drinking water and unhealthy sanitary system are also affecting education, says Khuturam Sunani, a fellow with CRY network.
Patdaraha village situated on a hill top near Chhatisgarh border and within the Maoists’ infected Sunabeda sanctuary under Bhainsadani gram panchayat of Boden block has a population of 1,718 dominated by tribes. There is no road facility to the village. The villagers depend on streams for drinking water. They eke out their living from agriculture and forest produces. People bring their goods from nearby town Boden on head and shoulder. Horses are also used as modes of transportation. Anyone can imagine the plight of the villagers living in the plateau.
There are seven primary schools and one upper primary school in the village constituted by a dozen of hamlets of Nuapada district.
Earlier, maximum schools of this area were running by single teacher. At present, all schools have at least two teachers, with the continuous efforts by local volunteers. At least 14 teachers of 17 are posted from plain area in this plateau. But the appointed teachers are not coming regularly. Now villagers have decided to bring this to the notice of the district collector and in case of no remedy, they would resort to a Dharana.
“In spite of all the tall claims by the State Government, the situation of elementary education has not changed much in the backward regions like western and southern Odisha. The condition of education system in the tribal and Dalit dominated areas of the State is still worse,” says Sai Prasan of Janata Vikash Manch (JVM). He further adds, “Around half of the schools in the State are not having full-fledged teachers in Science, Mathematics and others streams. The salary structure of the teachers employed on contract is the lowest compared to any other profession. Hence, the education sector is not able to attract talented persons.”
A report prepared by the JVM also reveals that education system is also not uniform in the State. Different education systems exist depending on the financial status of the family of the students. On one hand, there are English medium convent schools meant for the upper crust of the society, while the poor people send their children to the State-owned schools. There is a gulf in the education system meant for both the categories. The State education department is carrying some cosmetic reforms like introducing dress code for the teachers and the students as well but that are of little avail.
When asked, Chitta Behera, an analyst on education policy, said, “The Right to Education Act, properly speaking Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education 2009, is a failure. No Act can be implemented without being followed by the necessary rules made by the appropriate Government to give effect to the provisions of the Act. Though the Act was declared by a notification on February 19, 2010 to be enforced from April 1, 2010, no Central or State rules were found in place.”
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 was notified on August 27, 2009 in the Gazette of India. The Act was approved by the Cabinet on July 2, 2009. Later, it received the Presidential assent and was notified as law.
Despite efforts made by the Government and NGOs, experts have identified certain factors which may lead to non- implementation of the Act. According to Anil Pradhan of Sikhyasandhan, “The Act advocates for a minimum of two teachers in a school. Teacher-student ratio should not be a criterion for schools having less than 60 students. There is a huge shortage of trained teachers in Odisha, while appointment of Sikshasahayaks on the basis of contractual payment has been a negative factor.
In Odisha, we have around 52,000 (51,239) teachers posts vacant in elementary schools. In a school, a regular teacher receives `15,000 per month, while the contractual or SS receive `4,000.
Under the conditions, it is impossible to motivate the underpaid teachers to work with the same level of motivation at par with the well-paid teachers.
A senior State Government official says a series of programmes has been launched to improve the elementary education scenario like State level consultation workshops, notification of Odisha RCFCE Rules, 2010, RTE Cell, Pedagogy Cell, Samadhan, Sadhan, Sanjog, Issuance of notifications, formation and training of State team of trainers, development of IEC materials on RTE, State level sensitisation meet on RTE, performance tracking and monitoring process, district level sensitisation meets on RTE, formation of district team of trainers (DToT) on RTE, capacity building and re-orientation of School and Mass Education Department officials, teachers awareness on RTE, inter-department convergence, Government-civil societies partnership, sensitisation meet for private schools on RTE, updating of baseline data, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), Grievance redressal cell and school student’s helpline, continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) process, empowerment of PRIs through convergence with Panchayati Raj Department, formation of school management committees, Shiksha Chetana Abhiyan, Ama Vidyalay and Samarthya etc.
In compliance with the RCFCF Act, 2009, the State Government has issued notifications from time-to-time and they have been placed in the public domain like prohibition of corporal punishment in schools, school support scheme, declaration of academic authority (director, TE and SCERT), discontinuation of board examination at elementary level from academic session 2010-11, prohibition of screening procedures, guidelines for admission in private unaided school and for composition and functions of school management committee in elementary schools, he informs.
Besides these, the school management committees have been formed in at least 50,511 schools as on April 30, 2011 across the State. The newly formed committees held a meeting on functions of SMCs, local issues of education and RTE during a State-wide community mobilisation campaign on RTE. The RTE cell is closely monitoring the process of formation of SMCs and progress across the State. Sample study on the composition of SMCs across 19 districts of over 200 schools is being conducted, he adds.
The RTE cell has provided technical support in strategy development and in facilitating implementation of the same. The flash data received from 30 districts indicate 5.95 lakh new enrolments during the campaign period alone were made. The highest enrolment of 44,600 children was recorded from Mayurbhanj district.
Though the Government has taken a number of steps and policy decisions still the impact has not been felt. NCLP schools are inadequate; the protection mechanism under CLP and RA has not been enforced. Though a year has passed since RTE implementation, age appropriate classes and schools for child labourer and especially for dropout have not been set up in adequate numbers.
(The writer is a senior freelance journalist)
PUBLISHED IN THE PIONEER ON 22 NOVEMBER 2011, BUBANESWAR
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