Dear Inventurers,
Thank you very much for attending the meeting on the RTE on the 19 Aug 2010. On behalf of the team, I would like to place on record a big thank you to Divya Mundkur, Ramanand Mundkur (parents of Inventure)and Debaleena from Mundkur Law Partners for investing considerable time on developing and delivering a very insightful presentation on the RTE.
Thank you very much for attending the meeting on the RTE on the 19 Aug 2010. On behalf of the team, I would like to place on record a big thank you to Divya Mundkur, Ramanand Mundkur (parents of Inventure)and Debaleena from Mundkur Law Partners for investing considerable time on developing and delivering a very insightful presentation on the RTE.
I, like several other people who attended the meeting, left campus on Thursday feeling very good about the type of parent, student and faculty body we have at Inventure. Particularly heartened by the open, inclusive, sensitive and reflective yet, action oriented culture which was displayed by the various participants.
Encouraged by the response we can move forward safe in the knowledge that we have our important stakeholders support, even if we may not agree on each and every point. I hope that this dialogue will lead to a more effective outcome for everyone either directly or indirectly impacted by the RTE.
As discussed, we will have a follow up meeting at 15:30 at our multi purpose room on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 (and not Wed, 25 Aug) to take decisions on next steps. Please note we are looking at the possibility of setting up an id and pw protected discussion thread on inventureacademyschool.blogspot.com. Will revert on the feasibility of that or another alternative by the 24th Aug.
For those of you who could not attend on the 19th we hope to see you at our next meeting. Please find attached a copy of the presentation which was conducted by Ramanand, Mundkur law partners. Key points covered include:
The constitution of India and the framework within which the laws are made (including acts and rules), what the constitution says about private elementary education, the Right to Education Act 2009 (which is indeed law as of 1 Apr 2010), the central government’s model rules and the Karnataka government’s draft rules.
Look forward to continue working with all of you to ensure that every child does indeed get the right to a quality education and all of us as educators, parents and students the right to choose the type of schools / education…. I am confident that we can work within the democratic structure we have the benefit of as Indian citizens or residents to come up with a win-win situation for everybody.
Thank you and best regards
Nooraine Fazal
Head of School
Inventure Academy
The government has made these rules available on http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/SSA/pdfdocs/rtedraftrules.pdf and has invited us as citizens to submit any feedback by 30 Aug 2010 on prabhaalexander@yahoo.co.in. Head of School
Inventure Academy
Please refer to links below for the RTE act, and Karnataka Government’s draft rules and some other relevant documents
http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementaryRTE.asp
http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/SSA/pdfdocs/rtedraftrules.pdf
2 comments:
The RTE has come as a surprise to me. This is a great initiative by the government, and I am pleased to see this country aiming at development from the grass root level.
On the one hand, I feel that this is a positive movement. India is aiming at providing equal opportunities to kids of all social backgrounds. The underprivileged will now have to the access to a lot of things they were denied while growing up. They will see more opportunities, and more exposure.
But coming to the feasibility of this act, there are a lot of issues that need to be given thought to. As of now, it looks fantastic on paper… but the implementation is a bit dicey.
A kid learns a lot in terms of skills from his/her immediate surroundings – including people, resources and environment.
All of us come from families where we are given guidance from the grass root level. Up until grade five or six, our parents guide us and help us with homework and academics in general. My brother uses the internet more than his text book! Mindspark, AssetOnline, Renweb, etc, have become more of a necessity now-a-days. Children in Grade 4 and 5 are being asked to do PowerPoint Presentations for their projects.
Now, there is a little problem. A lot of the children in the 25% quota probably don’t even have computers or internet access at their homes. Of course, they will be using computers in school….but how much will they learn in one or two periods a week? If in a class, 25% of the children are not able to do the work assigned, there has to obviously be some compromise somewhere. The only possible place would be the existing standards of our education.
There will be a drop in our standards… to make it easier for them to understand and follow.
Looking at it from a much more delicate angle, it will not be easy for those kids to settle here either. Though it is not deliberate, we do tend to lead a much more ostentatious life. Nike bottles, Reebok bags, Adidas shoes and the like…
There will come a breaking point, where these children will begin to feel deprived of many luxuries we enjoy. Imagine the psychological impact of this on those children – Food for thought.
I’m not saying that we should not be providing education to the weaker sections of society… but this is not the way. Forcing the two sections of society to interact in such a way will not work.
There is an alternative – the government can enforce the Private Schools to take up one government school each. Through a fee hike, or charity drive, we can raise funds for these schools. We – students as well as teachers, can probably go to their schools once a fortnight and teach them… be it academics or beyond.
Comments on the RTE and Draft Rules
- 25% reservation for weaker sections in Class K1, K2, and Grade 1
o Who will pay for this, if the government is controlling the amount of fee charged?
o Also, even if the amount of fee charged isn’t controlled, wouldn’t parents need to spend a lot on their child’s primary education?
o The reimbursement wouldn’t be sufficient for a school like Inventure Academy
- No screening procedure
o Without a screening procedure how would you know a child’s strengths and weaknesses, The school should have the right to know as it needs to help the children with their weaknesses
- No child should be held back or expelled
o If the government wants to issue certificates after the completion of primary education, These would have no value as anyone who sits in class for eight years would receive them
o The school should have the right to expel a child, The schools job is to educate children, if one child is preventing others from being educated he/she should be expelled
- Teaching in mother tongue
o This is not practical, when everyone has a different mother tongue
o Also many prefer to use English as a medium of instruction
- Common Curriculum
o This dilutes the current academics
o Also makes it difficult for students who will continue after 8th grade as they have to appear for their ICSE or IGCSE examinations in class 10
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