DEBATE  The Right to Education Act is a realistic and achievable goal that will change

the face of education in India. i have to speak aganist the motion...

Men still dominate women in every country in the world, resulting in widespread discrimination against women and girls. The impact of unequal power relations and discrimination is often felt most severely when material poverty exists, as this increases vulnerability. Inequality in society inevitably has an impact on the provision and content of education, as well as on the ability of girls to enter, and remain in, school. See the following headings for further research: 

Gender discrimination

Early marriage and pregnancy

Violence against girls in schools

Funding

Child/domestic labour

Lack of government schools

Lack of encouragement

Some relevant links

 Gender discrimination

Cultural and social beliefs, attitudes and practices prevent girls from benefiting from educational opportunities to the same extent as boys. There is often a powerful economic and social rationale for investing in the education of sons rather than daughters, as daughters are perceived to less valuable once educated, and less likely to abide by the will of the father, brother or husband. In most countries, both the public and private sectors continue to be dominated by men, leading parents to ask themselves: why bother educating our girls if they will never make it anyway?

Early marriage and pregnancy

The low value attached to girls’ education reinforces early marriage and early pregnancy keeping girls and their children trapped in a vicious cycle of discrimination. Too often marriage is seen as a higher priority than education, and the girls who are married (even where they have been forced into early marriages against their will), as well as the girls who are pregnant, are excluded from schools.

Violence against girls in schools

Another key issue around rights to and in education concerns the persisting violence against girls. Tragically, this issue is a daily reality for many girls around the world. The violence is not only a direct infringement of human rights as elucidated in the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), but it also plays a role in denying girls the right to access education by being one of the major causes of drop-out among girls. Taken together with the ever-present scourge of corporal punishment and public shaming by school authorities and teachers, a cycle of absenteeism, low self–esteem and violence at home and in schools, this perpetuates those cycles of discrimination which education is supposed to challenge and break.

Schools fail to protect the basic rights and dignity of girls. Violence includes rape, sexual harassment, physical and psychological intimidation, teasing and threats. It may occur on the way to school or within the school itself, and is perpetuated by teachers, parents, persons of perceived authority and fellow students. Schools who also fail to provide adequate physical facilities, such as toilets and running water, cause inconvenience to boys, but spell an end to education for girls before education has even begun.

Statistics about the prevalence of violence against girls are hard to find: it remains under-reported, misunderstood and largely unaddressed, both because of the difficulty of researching the issue, and because of the widespread cultural negligence and betrayal of those who have little or no rights in the first place.  

Funding

Funding in girls' education is an important issue. No country has yet succeeded in rescuing girls’ education from its continued status as the lowest budget priority and one of the least favoured areas in public policy.

“The direct costs of sending all children to school are usually too high for poor parents. While primary school tuition fees have now been abolished in many countries, nearly all developing countries still requires payment of various kinds; in many cases, these charges are far higher than direct tuition fees. They include: charges for books, stationery, exam fees, uniforms, contributions to ‘building funds, levies imposed by the school management committees, informal tips to teachers and travel costs” (Aikma &Unterhalter 2005, 39).

Household poverty and the need to prioritize reduce educational opportunity for girls because they are the first to suffer. The opportunity costs linked to sending girls to school are significant on poor households. Girls’ labour is frequently used to substitute for their mothers’, e.g. by caring for siblings. The loss of girls’ labour during school hours thus has a detrimental impact on such families' ability to raise their household income, either through food production or wage labour.

Child/domestic labour 

Girls are usually ‘needed at home’ and/or ‘need to earn money’. These are major reasons why poor girls drop out of school in most countries. Girls being employed as child labour, bearing the main burden of housework and taking on the role of caring for younger siblings, are impacting girls’ performance and attendance in schools, and resulting in physical and mental fatigue, absenteeism and poor performance. “Opportunity costs refer to labour time lost to the parent when the child goes to school. The opportunity costs are usually much higher for girls than for boys, since girls are expected to do more domestic work than boys” (Aikma &Unterhalter 2005, 39-40). While educating a boy is generally seen as a sound investment, sending a girl to school is frequently seen either as bringing no gain at all, or, worse, as an actual waste of resources. 

 Lack of government schools

Ministry of Education planners do not always take girls’ enrolment targets into consideration when determining how many new schools should be built, or the need to secure girls education. Such deceptions are allowed to flourish, either due to ignorance or simply to bad intentions, despite the fact that education is the one single investment that is most likely to break the cycle of poverty for the family and for society. The need to travel long distances to school is also one of the main barriers for girls, especially in countries where a cultural premium is placed on female seclusion. This is due to concerns for girls' safety and security, and consequently parents are usually unwilling to let their daughters walk long distances to school. (Aikma & Unterhalter 2005, 40) See further information about governments’ obligations.

Lack of encouragement

The limited number of female teachers in both primary and secondary schools is a major constraint on girls' education. The presence of female teachers both makes schools more girl-friendly, and provides role models for girls.

It is also documented that there is an inseparable link between the well-being of mothers and the well-being of their children. Women who were educated in school  frequently have fewer children, and are better able to provide health care and adequate nutrition for the children they do have. They are also more likely to send their children to school and keep them in a school system.

S

but now a days most of the girls are getting education ,so how u can say that right to education in india is not a realistic and achievable goal?

Poverty exist in most part of our county. It has the largest concentration of poor in the world. So how can you expect in a country where people do not get food, clothing and shelter to get proper education??? If you look around you will find many children working in tea stalls, picking up rags and involving themselves in criminal activities. Besides they are exploited sexually and other wise ...

In India, we have nearly 200 million children between the ages of 6 and 14, of which more than 50% do not complete elementary education of 8 years. And even if we talk of the other 50% who do get education, how many of them actually receive quality education? Leave alone quality, and let’s talk about the current shortage of teachers in government schools. The job of a teacher today has no value. The people who deserve to teach, will run after jobs with money, and we, the students are left with teachers who perhaps are not qualified enough for us. Ignoring this, even if all the students were to get an education, then each teacher would end up getting 80 students in her class, in which case she will obviously not be able to pay attention to each student.

I agree that RTE has reached up to some heights, but how do you expect to even literate people from remote villages where there are no classes, no teachers, and worst of all, no students; nothing worth being called a school... Reality dawns upon us when we see the condition in these areas.
Another problem is that most of our population is illiterate and backward. They have a completely phony mindset about the concept of education. And those who DO know about the importance of education, do not have the provisions or enough facilities.
Half the children in our country are drug addicts and most of them work as laborers. It is even more shameful to see that the parents of the unfortunates encourage them even for a meager amount of money.
In a country like this, in which taboos are given much more importance to than education, how can the RTE achieve its goal? I would like to conclude that although the government has put this act down on paper, it has not actually considered the reality while doing so. A country like ours might require years, or perhaps decades even, to realize such a dream.