Article Type: Research Article

 

Article Citation: Sudip Mandal. (2020). ROLE OF LOCAL AUTHORITY FOR IMPLEMENTING RTE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS AT THE BALI-I & BALI-II PANCHAYAT AREAS FROM GOSABA IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA. International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH, 8(12), 201-210. https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v8.i12.2020.2695

 

Received Date: 04 December 2020

 

Accepted Date: 31 December 2020

 

Keywords:

Right to Education

Local Self Government

Article 21A

Fundamental Rights
ABSTRACT

This study mainly in respect of the RTE Act. 2009 implementing phase and the actual accountabilities as local self-government (Bali-I & Bali-II panchayat) to actualize the execution of RTE. It is indicating of intensive study on a particular case and it is not a critical approach but an exploratory study. This study had been done following the descriptive survey method. The present researcher has been collected primary, secondary data through the questionnaires, interview sheets, various reports and other relevant sources. Main purposes of present study are to focus the role of local self-government as the monitoring agencies to execute RTE, so that common people as both urban and rural areas will be able to know actual what types as educational privileges, they can consume from state authority. Major findings of this study are that headmasters have given positive feedback about the local government for cooperating and Local self-government plays a particularly important role as the main partner of the Right to Education and it is preferred by most students and teachers.

1.     INTRODUCTION

 

"Education is manifestation of the perfection already in man"--Swami Vivekananda.

 

Education brings consciousness and revolution takes place through the hands of consciousness. Education can make a good citizen. “Education” is the weapon to change the world, live a quality life with the respect and dignity. It can only help in shaping a good society. Education is the most powerful tool which can shape the destiny of an individual as well as the whole nation. It is a very well-known fact that education is a dynamic process which starts from birth and ends till death. Standing in this place, it is very important to have a minimum education system for every citizen of every country. Because education alone can build people as conscientious and responsible good citizens. It is not possible for a person to develop as a good citizen without a minimum of education. We live in a miserable country where even after 50 years of independence, people still do not have the right to a minimum education. The main purpose of democratic governance is to achieve maximum development of the individual. The development of the individual requires an environment of independence. There are two pillars of democracy-- Liberty and Equality. Liberty is the product of rights. In each democratic state, certain rights are recognized and protected for the development of individuals. In a democratic society Liberty should distribute on the basis as equality. In India Constitution provides right to liberty as fundamental right which has already been incorporated under article 19 to 22. Right to liberty ensures people to live there in lives freely and with dignity. This right to liberty as well as right to life cannot be assured unless it is accompanied by right to education. The special rights of citizens need to be acknowledged and protected in a democratic state. The fundamental right is the basic right of a democratic state. According to D.D. Basu fundamental right is on which is protected and guarantee by the written constitution of the state". Though till the nineteenth century, education in India was an exclusive right available only to a small section of society. Under British rule, in spite of compulsory education laws, not much progress was made in this direction. Since colonial times India had provincial legislation that allowed the provincial governments to notify areas where “free and compulsory education" could be provided. After independence all though these legislations were carried forward by the state governments. Since the Indian Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950, sections 29th and 30th of the Constitution have been recognized as educational and cultural rights. Post-independence, Article 45 of the newly framed Constitution stated that the State shall endeavour to provide within a period of 10 years from the commencement of the Constitution, free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 years". National Policy on Education, 1968 was the first official document which attested Indian Governments commitment towards elementary education. This was further emphasized in the National Policy on Education, 1986. In the review of the policy in 1990, it was recommended to include Right to Education as a fundamental right in the constitution, on the basis of which National policy on Education 1992 which was formulated. The Supreme Court first recognised the right to education as a fundamental right in Mohini Jain v. Union of India (1992). In the case of J. P. Unnikrishnan vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993 ), the Court observed that: The right to education which is implicit in the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. According to UNO president Kofi Annan quoted that "Education is a human right with immense power to transformation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development". According to Earl Warren, Chief Justice of US Supreme Court "education is parhaps the most important function of  state and local government". In the present scenario of globalisation, teachers are the most fundamental actors in the field of education. Notwithstanding Right to education for all" is the most difficult task which is faced by the national community because poverty is one of the major causes of population and illiteracy in India. As a third world country, a large number of the people of India live below the poverty line and at the same time, keeping the world hunger index (Neighboring countries in 2020) below the rank of India in other third world countries, education for the people of that country means only luxury. There is a lack of education behind the poverty alleviation. Even after 50 years of independence, this debilitating disease is still at home in India. India's largest democratic state in the world, India's democratic success depends on pure public opinion. We can see significantly that in most of the general elections held from 1952 to 2019, the participation and duties of the people are noticeably lacking in most cases and the main reason for this is lack of public awareness and education. At the same time although elected by the people, they are avoiding their responsibility, because illiteracy is working behind him. It is pity that our great nation failed to eradicate the menace of illiteracy even after 65 years of independence and we have failed to provide "education for all children in India" which is a scandalous chapter in the history of the world. After unresponsive and sluggish attitude as political authority for a long-time government as India in the year 2002 took a decision to provide right to education for all as right to education is the concomitant to Fundamental Right. So, finally in 2002, the 86th amendment to the Constitution introduced Article 21-A making the right to education a fundamental right. For the first time in independent Indias history a fundamental right had been added to the Constitution. Unlike other fundamental rights the right to education required an enabling legislation to become effective. The RTE Act is this enabling legislation. The RTE Act came into force on April 1, 2010.

 

2.     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 

The objectives of this study are as follows

1)     To explore the aims of RTE to build welfare Nation.

2)     To find out the accountabilities of local self-government to execute RTE.

3)     To try to know the policies taken by local self-government for implementing RTE.

4)     To show the relation between local self-Government and educational institutions to actualise RTE both in rural and urban areas.

5)     To elicit challenges faced by local self-government in time of implementing RTE.

 

3.     RESEARCH QUESTION

 

The research questions of this study are as follows

1)     How RTE can help to bring universalisation of education in practice?

2)     What are the roles played by local self-governments for offering RTE to all, especially to children belong up to 14th years?

3)     How do local self-governments act as the bridge in between stakeholders and policy makers?

4)     How do local self-governments guide to local educational institutions to follow the SSA and RMSA as the policies of universalisation of education declared by RTE?

5)     What are the policies taken by local self-governments to check dropout and stagnation?

 

4.     RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 

Does not mean cynical approach. It is indicating of intensive study on a particular case and it is a course of Investigation where facts have been discovered by scientific method. This study had been done following the descriptive survey method and the present researcher had followed the manners of data collection and data analysis as directed by that method.

 

5.     SOURCE OF DATA

 

The primary data had been collected from the Gosaba block at the Bali-I & Bali-II-gram panchayat belonged to the six secondary schools of class VIII standared and the secondary data had been gathered from the various reports of schools and other sources. Headmasters and Assistant Teachers opinion had been collected with a self-made questionnaire.

 

6.     TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION

 

 In this study researcher used questionnaire, interview sheet; as the tools of data collection.

Iterative process         collection of raw data       irrelevant data reduction       again data collection had been followed by the researcher and following the norms of this method processed data had been interpreted logically.

 

7.     INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

 

7.1. HEADMASTERS OF SCHOOLS

 

Most of the Headmasters of the respective schools are in favour of Local Self Government as if Local Self Government is the supporting agency of the Right to Education Act. 2009. The headmasters have given positive feedback about the local government for cooperating on the following subjects.

·        Dropout Students: The local government assists the school in implementing the Right to Education Act by providing information on the financial status of the families of dropout school students. In some cases it also helps with the student's home address. At the same time, the local government went to the student's house and tried to find out the reason for the dropout. The local government makes parents aware of their importance of right to education, study without pay, back to the mainstream of study and arranges for them to send their children to school.

·        Books supply: In some cases, the local government provides books, notebooks, pens, bags, etc. to the poor, gifted and students living below the poverty line so that they can study. So, the students are not to deviate from the study.

·        Mid-Day-Meal Programme: In some cases, the local government cooperates, even though it does not see the whole matter of the mid-day meal. However, the local government has built mid-day-meal house and mid-day meal sheds in some schools. In some cases local self-government helps in Mid-Day-Meal kitchen purpose and built in the ground water infrastructure for supplying the drinking water.

·        Co-operation: The local government cooperates with the schools in various aspects such as conducting football matches, conducting school management and cultural programs. It also enriches the school with cooperation and advice on all matters. Local government and block departments help students with books, notebooks, pens, bags, shoes.

·        Annual Sports Competition: The local government co-sponsors the school's annual sports event and encourages students to be rewarded at the end of the sport. At the joint initiative of the local government and the school, sports competitions are organized at the block and district level with the first and second place winners of various sports. Attempts are made to develop the mental, physical and latent talents of the students through sports.

·        Financial Assistance: The local government arranges for the students to receive all the government scholarships available to them. The local government provides financial assistance to the poor, meritorious, economically weaker section and living below the poverty line students so that they can study. The local government provides financial support for environmental cleanliness in some schools.

·        Cultural Programme: Students need to develop mental health as well as physical health. With that in mind, cultural programs are organized in the school every year. The local government cooperates in conducting these cultural programmes and encourages them to lead a brighter life in the future and also rewarded the students who participated in the cultural program.

For the above subjects the Headmasters makes positive comments about local self-government.

 

7.2. ASSISTANT TEACHERS OF THE SCHOOLS

 

Assistant teachers comment on mixed trends. A few Assistant Teachers have given their opinion in favour and most of the assistant teachers have remark that local self-government is good but for the actualization of RTE more responsibility from the local self-government are needed. As local self-government is not interested to recruit the additional teachers. So, they are not interested to involve in teaching affairs of teachers.

 

7.3. INTERPRETATION OF STUDENTS' OPINION

 

Table 1: Bali-I and Bali-II G.P. in Government Aided High School Level of Class VIII Standard

  'Y’ represent here Yes and 'N' represent here No.

 

7.4. OBJECTIVE WISE INTERPRETATION

 

·        Objective 1. To find out the accountabilities of local self-government to execute RTE.

·        Answer to Research Questions

 

1)     What roles are played by local self-governments for offering RTE to all,  especially to children belong up to 14th years?     

 

                                                        Figure 1: Percentage of Schools Students opinion Items No:1

 

·        Interpretation: From figure no. 1 represent here, table no. 1 item-1 it is found that 42.1 % of the students are responsible for the implementation of the Right to Education Act.2009 but 57.9 % of the students are of the opinion that the local government is not responsible.

                    

So, it is clear that the local government is very apathy to the implementation of the Right to Education Act. 2009.And the local government is not accountable for the right to education for all children between the ages of 6th and 14th.

 

·        Objective 2 To explore the aims of RTE to build welfare Nation.

·        Objective 3 To show the relation between local self-Government and educational institutions to actualise RTE both in rural and urban areas.

 

·        Answer to Research Questions

1)     How RTE can help to bring universalisation of education in practice?

2)     How local self-governments guide to local educational institutions to follow the SSA and RMSA as the policies of universalisation of education declared by RTE?  

 

Figure 2: Percentage of Schools Students opinion Items No: 2

 

·        Interpretation: It is seen that Fig. no. 2 in item-2nd of table no. 1, 71.93% of the students gave positive and 28.07% gave negative feedback. On the basis of this questions most of the learners gave their response positive. So, it is clear that through building the welfare nation the aim of RTE is to universalization of elementary education as well as secondary education. To build welfare nation the aim of RTE is universalization of elementary education act to exercise of this. It has been observed that local self-government has been shouldering their respective duties.

 

·        Objective 4. To try to know the policies taken by local self-government for implementing RTE.

·        Answer to Research Questions

1)     How local self-governments act as the bridge in between stakeholders and policy makers?

      

Figure 3:  Percentage of Schools Students Opinion Items No: 3

 

·        Interpretation: From Fig. no. 3 is seen that in item-3rd of table no. 1, 67.64 percent students gave positive and 32.36 percent negative opinions on the basis of specific questions and answers. It is very clear that the local government shouldered the responsibility of implementing the policy of implementation of Right to Education Act. 2009.The local government acts as a good communicator among the stakeholders and policy makers.

 

·        Objective 5. To elicit challenges faced by local self-government in time of implementing RTE.

·        Answer to Research Questions:

1)     What policies taken by local self-governments to check dropout and stagnation?

 

                                                               

Figure 4: Percentage of Schools Students Opinion Items No: 4

 

·        Interpretation: Fig. no. 4 is seen that in item-4th of table no. 1, 69.7 percent of the students gave yes and 30.3 percent gave no opinion on the basis of specific questions. Based on the positive opinions of most of the students, it is proved that the local government plays an important role in controlling drop outs and stagnation in the implementation of the Right to Education Act. 

 

Figure 5: Percentage of Overall Schools Students Opinion

 

·        Interpretation: All the students in the six schools, 62.8 percent said yes and 37.2 percent said no opinions but it has cleared that most of the students are favoring the RTE through the local government. Students are supporting the Right to Education Act.2009 because it gives them many opportunities.It is clear that the image of local government is much brighter and more action-oriented in implementing the Right to Education Act.2009.

 

8.     MAJOR FINDINGS

 

1)     This pre concerns specially headmasters and assistant teachers they are in favour of Right to Education Act. 2009 and they think that Right to Education Act.2009 is the milestones for the Universalization of Elementary Education in them.

Or

Most of the head masters and assistant teachers think that the Right to Education Act. 2009 is favorable for actualization of Universalization of Elementary Education.

2)     local self-government is the supporting agency of RTE- this is the view points of the most of the facilitator.

3)     Though local self-government is treated as supporting agency but more responsibility is needed to shoulder this schooling and learning system.

4)     It is found that local self-government shows their apathy to involve the RTE affairs in their local educational institutions.

5)     Students are in favour of RTE as this act provide them multiphases educational opportunities.

 

9.     DISCUSSION AND MAJOR FINDINGS

 

1)     Why most of the head masters & assistant teachers remark in favour of RTE. As RTE favour to Education as fundamental right has paved the way for universalization of education in this connection most of the head masters & assistant teachers are trying to realize utility of the Act.

2)     As in public administration Peterself mentioned staff-line theory. Here 'Staff' means decision making authority and 'line' means decision implementing unit. Government of India made Right to Education Act. 2009 and this act will be implemented by the different types of local self-government both in rural and urban areas. In our country where three tire administration (Central, State and Local Self Government) are going on to here local government have been shouldering their respective duties to implement this act through the different types of educational institutions. They also look after the academic atmosphere where necessary.

3)     Generally local self-government acts as the observer or monitoring unit of this right to education but more attention to implement this RTE needed regarding mid-day meal, regarding the neutrious foods, regarding the sanitation, regarding the physical infrastructure of the schools, here more visigilance of the local self-government is desirable.

4)     In time of data collection present researcher has observed that most of the assistant teachers of the respective schools have some limitations about the role of local self-government. They think that as local self govt. is not the recruiting authority of the teachers or as they are not interested to recruit the teachers, they do not to involve the school’s affairs as well as teachers of the schools they also do not boder their guardianship.

5)     Through the RTE government provides different types of educational opportunities through the learner such as books, notebooks, pen, shows, bag, no capitation fees, on screening test, no punishment, provide to remedial class, redressal of grievances, a lot of educational opportunities has been offered by the government. So, most of the learners are in favour of this RTE. Earlier RTE educational facilities of the learner was synchronis, it has been expanded through the Right to Education.

 

10.  CONCLUSION

 

RTE is an important step in making child rights a reality. Through this, children get various kinds of assistance from the government only for the purpose of education. Stakeholders of the Right to Education Act are constantly striving for its proper implementation across the country. Local government plays a particularly important role as the main partner of the Right to Education and is preferred by most students and teachers. However, the new India will emerge in the coming days through proper implementation of the Right to Education Act.2009. Without this study it is evident that the local governments are quite fully active for the implimentation of RTE Act but in few cases thy are too much liberal. In this respect they must have to more causous in education sector. Notwithstanding researcher is very much hopeful that, despite the huge of limitations, the study would evidence to be useful at the guiding and implementing role of local authority for RTE actualization of elementary level viz upper primary education in our country.

 

11.  SUGGESTIONS FOR FARTHER STUDY

 

This study has not covered all the fields. It may help in various reaserch work such as

1)     In future a comparative study may be done with different districts of West Bengal.

2)     Broad Aspect Comparative study of West Bengal can be done with different states level of India.

3)     This study can also be done gender wise.

4)     This study can also be done with the attitude of male Headmasters and Assistant teachers.

 

SOURCES OF FUNDING

 

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

 

The author have declared that no competing interests exist.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

 

None.

 

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