THE IMPACT OF RTE ACT-2009 ON WEST BENGAL’S RURAL UPPER PRIMARY SCHOOL

 

Achintya Singha ¹

 

¹ State Aided College Teacher (SACT), Bangabasi Evening College, 19, Rajkumar Chakraborty Sarani, Kolkata – 700009, West Bengal, India

 

1. INTRODUCTION

The Right to Education (RTE) is an important act to improve the social and economic status of the people. The RTE Act of 2009 derives from Article 26(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which states that everyone has the right to education. Elementary education shall be free and compulsory. The right of children to free and compulsory education (Act 2009), which is popularly known as the RTE Act-2009, has been compacted by the 86th Amendment in December 2002, passed in the parliament in July 2009, and the provisions of the Act came into force from 1st April 2010. This was a historic day for the people of India, as from that day the right to education was granted the same legal status as the right to life, as provided by Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. The RTE Act of 2009 provides free and compulsory education to every child in the age group of 6 to 14 years as a fundamental right in such a manner as the state may by law determine. The RTE Act-2009, which represents the constitutional legislation under Article 21A, means that every child has a right to a full-time elementary education of satisfactory and reasonable quality in a formal school that satisfies certain necessary norms and standards.

According to Duflo (2001), Kremer (2003), purpose of policies and programs to improving educational outcomes are one such investment and which can play a vital role for improving long-term benefit among large groups of people, particularly in developing countries. Kaushal (2012), discussed about implementation and concerns of RTE Act-2009 and some barriers such as student teacher ratio, poor quality of education and defective assessment. Malik et al. (2013), compare awareness of rural and urban teacher about RTE 2009. Kaur (2014), mentioned that male teachers are more concern than female teachers in government and private schools about this Act. Chaturvedi and Kuldeep (2015), discussed about implementation and challenges of RTE 2009 in schools of Rajasthan. Mahalik (2017), argued that teachers, headmasters, and school management committees were not aware of the implementation of the RTE Act 2009 in schools in Odisha.

 

1.1.    Objective of the Study

·        To know the infrastructural development of schools after implementation of RTE Act-2009.

·        To know about the enrolment and dropout of students in schools after implementation of RTE Act-2009.

·        Effect of RTE Act-2009 in women’s education.

·        Attitude of teachers and students towards execution of RTE Act-2009.

 

1.2. Statement of the Problem

The problem stated as “The Impact of RTE Act-2009 on West Bengal’s Rural Upper Primary School”.

 

1.3. Research Question

·        How much infrastructural development of schools occurred after implementation of RTE 2009?

·        Is the dropout problem solved after the execution of RTE 2009?

·        Is there increase rate of women education after implementation of RTE 2009?

·        What is the attitude of teachers and students towards RTE 2009?

 

1.4. Significance of the Study:- With this study, we will concern about the following goals

·        Attitude of students and teachers towards RTE Act-2009.

·        Realization about overall upper primary education of West Bengal.

·        Development of school infrastructure in present situation.

·        Barrier towards the implementation of RTE Act-2009.

·        Dropout and enrollment rate in schools.

 

2. Methodology

For this study, qualitative and survey methods were used.

 

2.1.    Sample

In this study, the author mainly choose 20 teachers including head master and assistant teacher and 30 students of upper primary school at South 24 Parganas district.

 

2.2. Research Tools &Technique

For data collection the researcher used questionnaire after expert validation, 14 questions for teachers and 12 questions for students.

For teacher 14 valid questions set as follows

Q1) Right to education act is a fundamental right.

Q2) For every 5-14 years old child, free and compulsory education exists.

Q3) Private tuition is a punishable offence for school teachers.

Q4) Physical and mental harassment of students age legally prohibited.

Q5) There is a suitable library for students in the school.

Q6) There is any drinking water problem in the school.

Q7) Different gent’s and women’s toilets in the school.

Q8) Increase women education rate after implementation of RTE 2009.

Q9) Different women’s toilets increase the participation of women in the school.

Q10) Parental interests not increase towards women’s education.

Q11) Free education increases the enrollment rate of students in school.

Q12) After giving book, dress and bag from school, dropout rate of students remains unchanged.

Q13) Compulsory and free education decreases students’ dropout rate.

Q14) Mid-day-meal scheme increases the students’ enrollment rate in school.

 

Questionnaire for students

 Q1) We are leaning in our mother tongue.

Q2) Our school is surrounded by wall.

Q3) Teachers give home work every day.

Q4) I don’t use school library.

Q5) Adequate light and ventilation enters in our class room.

Q6) We cannot get book from our school.

Q7) There is a different gent’s and women’s toilet in our school.

Q8) Teacher do not use glob, chart and model in the class room.

Q9) There is a playground in our school.

Q10) We get tuition from our school teachers.

Q11) There is no adequate drinking water in our school.

Q12) After giving wrong feedback, teachers don’t give punishment.

 

2.3. Procedure of Data Collection

Researcher collected data via Google form.

 

2.4. Software used

Microsoft office Excel 2007 and Microsoft office Word 2007 have been used to analysis and interpretation of data.

 

3. Data Analysis and Interpretation

A) Teachers’ response sheet- Out of 14 multiple choice questions with 3 options, we show the response of teachers given in the following table.   

Table 1

Table 1
Question No	Yes	No	Not Answered
1	20	0	0
2	20	0	0
3	20	0	0
4	20	0	0
5	20	0	0
6	5	15	0
7	20	0	0
8	20	0	0
9	20	0	0
10	0	20	0
11	20	0	0
12	3	17	0
13	20	0	0
14	20	0	0

 

Figure 1

                                                                     

Figure 1

From above Table 1 and Figure 1, we observed that

·        Most of the teacher gives correct answer of Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. Hence, we have decided that most of the teachers know about RTE 2009.

·        From the answer of the questions Q5, Q6 and Q7, we noticed that except problem of drinking water in some schools, infrastructural development of schools done after implementation of RTE Act-2009.

·        Women’s education percentage is increasing which is shown by the answers of questions Q8, Q9 and Q10.

·        The answers of the questions Q11, Q12, Q13 and Q14 pointed out that dropout rate become decrease and enrolment rate become increase in the schools.

B) Students’ response sheet- Out of 12 multiple choice questions with 3 options, we show the response of students given by the following table.

                                                       

Table 2

Table 2
Question No	Yes	No	Not Answered
1	30	0	0
2	30	0	0
3	16	14	0
4	5	25	0
5	30	0	0
6	0	30	0
7	30	0	0
8	11	19	0
9	30	0	0
10	0	30	0
11	5	25	0
12	30	0	0

 

Figure 2

                                                                     

Figure 2

From the above Table 2 and Figure 2 we have decided that

·        Students’ response of question Q1, Q3, Q10 and Q12 implies that most of the teachers are aware about the right to education act.

·        Answer of the questions Q2, Q4, Q5, Q9 and Q11 gives a conclusion that infrastructural improvements have been done.

·        Women’s education percentage is increasing which is shown by the answers of question Q7.

·        Dropout rate become decreases and enrollment rate become increases by different type of activities, which can be noticed by the answers of the questions Q6 and Q8.

 

3.1.    Major findings

Most of the teachers have positive attitude towards RTE Act-2009.

Infrastructural developments of schools have been done after implementation of RTE 2009.

Students’ enrolment rate has increased.

Dropout percentage has decreased.

Women’s education percentage has increased after execution of RTE Act-2009.

 

3.2. Limitation of the Study

We have collected data from a small number of students and teachers. Also, we collected data some specific area of South 24 Parganas district.

 

4. Conclusion

Education is the pillar of our society. We cannot develop our society without education. To develop our education system different types of committees, commission have been formed time to time in our country. RTE Act-2009 is one of the most important regulations among them. After implementation of RTE Act-2009, we have found a large change in school education system. School infrastructural development occurred and awareness of teachers about their duty become increased. Women empowerment and women involvement in education system become increased. Students’ dropout rate become decreased and enrolment of students in school become increased. Literacy rate become increases from 64.8% in 2001 to 74.04 in 2011 according to census data. Overall, we can say that RTE Act-2009 has been played a important role in our school education system.

 

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

None. 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Mr. Nupur Saha for giving information about RTE Act-2009 and help towards data collection.

 

REFERENCES

Babu, J.R. (2009). Universalization of Elementary Education : A Study of District Primary Education Programme from South India.

 Bagchi, K.K., & S. Sarkar, S. (2003). Development of Social Sector in West Bengal : A Study in Inter-District Disparity. Indian Journal of Regional Science, 35(2), 115-130.

 Chaturvedi, A., Kuldeep, N. (2015). Status of Implementation of the RTE Act2009 & Challenge in the School of Rajasthan, EPRA International Journal of Economics & Business Review, 3(3), 163-169.

 Duflo, E. (2001). Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment. American Economic Review, 91(4), 795-813. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.91.4.795

 Habib, A. (2020). Implementation of RTE-2009 and the Effects There of on Minority and Scheduled Tribe Communities in West Bengal. Kripa-Drishti Publications, Pune, India.

 Haroon, S., Iqbal, M., Siddiqui, M. A., & Siddiqui, L. (2012). Socio-economic Determinants of Primary School Dropout : Evidence from South East Delhi, India. European Journal of Social Sciences, 30(3). 391-399.

 Kaur, N. (2014). Awareness of RTE Among Secondary School Teachers, Journal of Social Sciences and Research, 6(2), 1004-1008. https://doi.org/10.24297/jssr.v6i2.3484

 Kaushal, M. (2012). Implementation of Right to Education in India : Issues and concern. Journal of Management & Public Policy, 4(1), 42-48.

 Kremer, M. (2003).Randomized Evaluations of Educational Programs in Developing Countries: Some lessons. American Economic Review, 93(2), 102-106. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282803321946886

 Mahalik, R. (2017). Awareness, Initiatives, and Challenges in Implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 in Odisha. Social Science and Humanities Journal, 2(1), 1-9.

 Malik, S., Serohi, S., & Tayal, A. (2013) "Awareness of Right to Education Act among Prospective Teachers," Research Journals Journal of Education, 1(2), 1 -6. https://doi.org/10.24297/jssr.v6i2.3484