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CRY (Child Rights and You), a child rights organisation in India, has launched a nation-wide campaign called “ Do what is right”, urging all citizens to demand amendments to the recently passed Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009. Addressing a press conference last week in Kolkata, CRY's director Dipankar Majumdar said,“The upcoming winter session is an opportunity to ask the government to amend the act and make its provisions truly reach each and every child in the country. We at CRY as well as our 200 NGO partners are going to sign the charter. We shall also reach out to citizens and explain the act and its implications. We hope to collect half a million signatures.” He added, “The Act was passed by the Indian government in 2009. However, due to a few loopholes, it provides unequal access of children to this fundamental right and therefore needs an immediate amendment.” The NGO has demanded that children below six years as well as those above 15 years be included in the ambit of this act. Further, they wish to ensure that schools have qualified teachers and proper facilities within a kilometre of every habitation. Currently, children above fifteen years of age are excluded from the scope of the Act. Secondly, there is no minimum standard defined for teachers, school infrastructure and basic facilities including drinking water, toilets, classrooms, and teacher-student ratios. Similarly, even though it has been shown that a child learns best in the language spoken at home, the act does not specify mother-tongue education as a medium of instruction, in addition to learning other languages. Further, they have demanded a clear provision for an allotment of ten per cent of India's GDP to education. CRY hopes to bring these demands to the attention of the government. Further information