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The Children's Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, which has been passed by both Houses of the Parliament and is awaiting the President's nod, is being severely criticised by the activists of Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), who have demanded a re-drafting. "The bill, in its present form, will never ensure equitable and quality education to all children because it excludes millions of children from the purview of the right to education," claimed Dr Rajni Kant, the state convener of CACL. The CACL is the largest child rights network in the country, with 6,500 member organisations. "It has decided to send a delegation to the President of India with an appeal to send back the bill for re-consideration," informed Kant, adding that a national convention of CACL would be held in New Delhi in September to raise the issue. He said that the bill passed in Lok Sabha on August 4 is completely unacceptable because it prevents millions of children aged of 0-6 and 14-18 years from their right to education. He said the bill- if enacted- would exclude 157 million children in the age group of 0-6 years, while this group were already guaranteed the right to free and compulsory education by the Supreme Court back in 1993. The bill does not recognise the right to free and compulsory education for children of the 14-18 years age group even though the Government of India, by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is responsible for ensuring such rights for all children up to 18 years of age. The bill is also depriving poor children of the opportunity of technical and higher education. Kant said the bill did not address the improvement of learning quality and infrastructural quality of schools. The bill limits the role of the government to ensure one school in each neighbourhood area and shifts the responsibility of bringing children to those schools on the parents. "This shows the government abdicates from its responsibility of making social provisions of bringing child labour, bonded labour, mentally and physically challenged children to school," he said. He further pointed out that the bill did not have any clear direction or commitment on the financial responsibility of state and the Central governments. "The CACL has been asking for the re-drafting of the bill since it was first introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December last," he said, adding the Union government passed the bill without considering these issues for amendment and the bill was now waiting for the President's signature. "The bill does not adequately address the issue of child labour. In Varanasi region, hundreds of out-of-school children are still engaged as child labourers in various sectors," he reasserted and added that the CACL would continue to raise the issue across the country to amend the bill before its enactment.
Further information
pdf: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/varanasi/Voices-of-dissent-...