Right to Education- A New School of Thought

The Supreme Court judgment upholding the constitutional validity of the Right of children to free and compulsory education (RTE) Act has paved the way for revolution in schooling. The RTE Act gives an opportunity to think, innovate and create new ways of educating the little one in our institution as elementary education is recognized as the foundation of the development of every citizen as also of the nation as a whole. For more than two year since the notification of the historic act, the movement on several fronts has been slow. The paper questions the feasibility of RTE scheme as there still several questions which demands immediate clear answer, like “Can we afford right to education Act?” as this question is increasingly being asked by the middle class Indians. RTE is expected to cost up to Rs. 2.3 lakh crores for the period 2012–14 which is nearly five times more the government's total allocation for school education in 2012–13. The financing of RTE remains a big issue as from where the extra money will come from? Educationalist speculates that may be by adding rising extra funds by increasing government spending, adding to government fiscal deficit, which will further fuel inflation. The scheme envisage for reservation of 25% seats for under privilege. But the other most burning question is, how will school make up for this shortfall? This will lead to other question, will fees rise? There are other hoards of question which demand our immediate attention. The Right to Education is a revolutionary law and it will bring historical changes in the field of education. After understanding the essence of this law we will have to move in a dedicated way for achieving its goal. The RTE has infused new hope in the little one, let us not fail them.\