EFA News
Indian legislation provides free and compulsory education for all children
15.09.2009The Indian Parliament approved a bill to guarantee free and compulsory education for children aged between six and 14 in July. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill was presented in the Lok Sabha, the lower house, and was passed by the upper house.
The bill requires presidential assent to become a law.
According to the UNESCO commissioned 2009 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report, for the school-year ending in 2006, 7.2 million children did not attend school in India. Girls accounted for 64 per cent of this figure.
“We as a nation cannot afford our children not going to schools,” said Education Minister Kapil Sibal. The bill provides for the inclusion of children with disabilities. The Indian government plans to set up special schools for these children and also provide education to them in all types of schools.
The new education bill also addresses the issue of quality education, pertaining to physical infrastructure, teacher:pupil ratio and the quality of teachers.
However, there is criticism regarding the lack of a clear funding plan for the bill’s initiative to provide free and compulsory education for children between six and 14 years of age. It also fails to cover children below the age of six, neglecting the importance of the early years of a child’s development.
“This bill needs to be redrafted as it fails to incorporate the financial implications,” said MP Asduddin Owaisi. The Asia Sentinel reported that estimates could be around USD$13.5 billion for central and state governments.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics Database reveals that in 2005, India spent 3.2 per cent of its GDP on education.
India’s education bill is in line with UNESCO’s Education for All (EFA) goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include universal primary education. The six EFA goals cover early childhood care and education; universal primary education; lifelong learning and life skills; literacy; gender; and quality of education. The target date is 2015 for both the EFA and the MDGs.
For more information on the six EFA goals, visit the EFA Goals page.