The landmark passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 marks a historic moment for the children of India. For the first time in India's history, children will be guaranteed their right to quality elementary education by the state with the help of families and communities. Few countries in the world have such a national provision to ensure child-centered, child-friendly education to help all children develop to their fullest potential. There were an estimated eight million out-of-school children in the age group of 6 to 14 in India out-of-school in 2009. The world cannot reach its goal to have every child complete primary school by 2015 without India.

India's education system over the past few decades has made significant progress. According to India's Education For All Mid-Decade Assessment, in just five years between 2000 and 2005, India increased primary school enrolment overall by 13.7% and by 19.8% for girls, reaching close to universal enrolment in Grade 1. Even with these commendable efforts, one in four children left school before reaching Grade 5 and almost half before reaching Grade 8 in 2005. Learning assessments show that the children who do remain in school are not learning the basics of literacy and numeracy or the additional skills necessary for their overall development.

FAST FACTS

Out-of-School Children: The number of out-of-school children has declined from 25 million in 2003 to 8.1 million in mid-2009. The most significant improvements have been in Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. The percentage of out-of-school children in highly populated states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar remains a cause of concern.

Access: There has been tremendous progress in improving access with 99% of habitations having a primary school within one kilometre, and 92% with an upper primary school within three kilometres. While access and enrolment to primary schools are good, upper primary access and participation remain challenges.

Social Inclusion: There have been significant improvements in the proportion of children from socially disadvantaged groups enrolled in school. For Scheduled Caste (SC) students, 19.7% were enrolled in 2008-2009, with 11% enrolled for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students. This is greater than their share of the population as a whole (16.2% for SCs and 8.2% for STs). The proportion of ST children at upper primary level is much lower, which indicates that ST children are more vulnerable to dropping out of the school system.

Sanitation: 84 out of 100 schools have drinking water facilities overall in India. But nearly half the schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya do not. Sixty-five out of 100 schools have common toilets in India; however only one out of four schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan have this facility. Fifty-four out of 100 schools have separate toilets for girls. On average, only one in nine schools in Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur have separate toilets as have one in four schools in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Orissa.

KEY ISSUES

The RTE Act has come into force from April 1, 2010. Draft Model Rules have been shared with states, which are required to formulate their state rules and have them notified as early as possible. RTE provides a ripe platform to reach the unreached, with specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a "disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economic, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor". RTE focuses on the quality of teaching and learning, which requires accelerated efforts and substantial reforms.

Creative and sustained initiatives are crucial to train more than one million new and untrained teachers in the next five years and to reinforce the skills of existing teachers to ensure child-friendly education. Bringing eight million out-of-school children into classes at the age appropriate level with the support to stay in school and succeed poses a major challenge. Substantial efforts are essential to eliminate disparities and ensure quality with equity. For example, investing in preschool is a key strategy.

Families and communities also have a large role to play to ensure child-friendly education for each and every one of the estimated 190 million girls and boys in India who should be in elementary school today. School Management Committees, made up of parents, local authorities, teachers and children themselves, will need support to form School Development Plans and monitoring. The inclusion of 50 % women and parents of children from disadvantaged groups in these committees should help overcome past disparities.

UNICEF ACTION

India's past achievements in education indicate it is possible to reach the goals set forth in RTE. Building on the achievements of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Unicef will continue to work with the government and other partners at community, state and national levels to promote child-friendly schools and systems across the country through RTE.

Unicef is committed to ensuring that all children have access to quality education and complete their schooling. Unicef works with its partners to improve children's developmental readiness to start primary school on time, especially for marginalized children. Technical support on education quality, school retention and achievement rates is also given. Unicef is also working to reduce gender and other disparities to increase access and completion of quality basic education. In emergencies, Unicef helps to restore education to affected populations.