Sixteen years after the idea was introduced for discussion, on August 26, 2009 the President gave his assent to the long-pending Right to Education Bill, which promises free and compulsory education for children between ages 6 and 14. The Act is fragmented into thirty seven sections which are categorized into seven chapters and one schedule. A major boost for the education sector came with this act. However, the Bill does not institutionalise early childhood education ( age group of 0 to 6 ) and higher secondary education ( age group of 15 to 18 ). Pre-school support is essential for children, and ignoring them less than six years of age could lead to the promotion of child labour and other forms of discrimination. Also, a child’s education is incomplete without a higher secondary education. How far is this justified or warranted? The world’s most developed economies, such as the US, the UK and France allocate 6-7 per cent of their national budgets on public education. India by contrast, allocates just 3 per cent for education.
Keeping this in mind, CRY came up with a campaign called the “ Sabko Shiksha Samaan Shiksha” campaign, that aims to highlight the gaps in the Education bill, seeking support from citizens in the form of a signature on a ‘Charter of demands’, to be sent to the Prime Minister and the President of India. The idea is to take forward the demand that the government ensures free, equal and quality education for every child in India.
As part of the campaign, on weekends, three buses along with the cry team and a group of volunteers, went around the city to different locations creating awareness about the campaign. The two activities involved during the yatra were charter signing and the other being a free art workshop for children. The enthusiasm every volunteer carried was phenomenal. As the bus reached a particular area, people gathered around to know what’s happening. The team got to work…. making people aware about the campaign …..gathering children on the bus for the workshops…. taking their handprints on a canvas board…. and getting signatures on the ‘Charter of Demands’. The CRY team came across different people with different views. A majority of the people thought that education was a fundamental right and they understood the need and importance of the charter, and so, they signed… and even got their friends and relatives to sign. There were some who signed out of frustration and anger towards the government, who according to them can never do something right. There were also people who did not sign because they didn’t want to listen to what the volunteers had to say (a pre-notion that a person with a sheet of paper taking signatures could only ask for money).
The CRY team covered various locations across the city, from slums to malls to colleges to parks and even the beach. There were children who wouldn’t get off the bus because they were having so much fun colouring and doing paperwork activity. Their small and colourful handprints looked beautiful on the canvas. From across the country thousands of signatures were collected and the number is still rising. Thus, things will not happen right overnight, but looking at the overall initiative one cannot but feel that there is hope for the children of this nation.
