Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

Lok Sabha Debates

Further Discussion On The Resolution Urging Upon The Government To Take ... on 17 April, 2008

> Title: Further discussion on the resolution urging upon the Government to take effective steps to provide free, compulsory and uniform education up to Higher Secondary lavel in the country, moved by Shri Ram Kripal Yadav on 31.08.2007.  (Discussion concluded and resolution negatived).

 

MADAM CHAIRMAN: Now, the House will take up Item No. 20 – Further Discussion on the following Resolution moved by Shri Ram Kripal Yadav on 31st August, 2007:-

“This House urges upon the Government to take effective steps to provide free, compulsory and uniform education up to Higher Secondary level in the country”               Shri C.K. Chandrappan, you were on your legs last time.

SHRI C.K. CHANDRAPPAN (TRICHUR): Yes, last time I was on my legs. We actually started the discussion during the last Session.

            The Bill, of course, is a Bill  and the Motion is a Motion. The Resolution is: “The House urges upon the Government to take effective steps to provide free, compulsory and uniform education up to Higher Secondary level in the country.”             The intention of this Resolution is very good. But my feeling is that we have to discuss this  proposition more seriously because the Constitution  says that free and compulsory education up to primary level to all children should be provided. It was a Constitutional stipulation made when the Constitution was adopted several decades before.  But we are far away from getting  that stipulation implemented.

            Now, I support the idea of making some more addition that ‘not only primary, secondary but all education to be made compulsory and free.’ But why could we practically not do that? Though in terms of financial commitment and all that,  it would have been much less. But we could not succeed in getting it implemented.

            Madam, it is related to the question of education for all.  If the idea of  education for all is acceptable to all, then probably, you should have found more resources to be spent for education. I think, at the present level, if we treat education, be it primary, secondary or anything, the meager spending on education on the Budget or the meager  spending by the Planning Commission would not help us to achieve any of these goals. That is the experience we have. The UPA Government, when it came to power, in their National Common  Minimum Programme promised that five per cent of the GDP would be provided for education.[r60]              Now, four years have passed after the UPA has come to power. We are nowhere near that promise being fulfilled. So, my request is that you take measures so that at least this promise made to the country by the UPA is fulfilled. To that extent, you make education more viable and available to common people.

            Apart from more financial allocations for education, there are certain other aspects we have to consider. Recently, there are certain reports. The Sachar Commission Report has come. It pointed out certain realities. They were not unknown because these were pointed out by various other reports before this Parliament. If there is food scarcity to a certain section of the people, then they are not in a position to send their children to the primary school. It is because they are very, very backward people, say, they are fishermen, poor Muslims and Scheduled Caste people. These people are very poor due to social reasons and economic backwardness. It is because of their social backwardness and economic backwardness, they are not in a position to send their children to the primary school, though there are facilities offered for getting primary education free.

            You make primary education free. But there is no employment to the parents; there is no food for the family; and there is also social oppression. The children, instead of going to the school, will look for food. They may not be working but they may be begging. But whatever is the thing, they will not go to the school. So, food, employment and social position of various strata of society are also factors that are influencing the decision of the Government or various agencies to provide free education. But the people are not in a position to make use of it.

            Now, when the Sachar Commission’s Report came, it described the position of the Muslims. It said that more than 60 per cent of the poor Muslims in the country, not in small number, are living at a standard which is much below the standard of ordinary poor people, the Scheduled Caste people, the Scheduled Tribe people and the fishermen. Then, conscious effort has to be made to improve their position. While doing so, you may try to bring them to educational institutions also. So, unless and until all these measures are taken, and all are going hand in hand, then, probably, we may not achieve the goal that we want to achieve. That happened to the Constitutional promise, a commitment that was made to this country for compulsory and free primary education to all the children. We could not fulfil that. Now, when we could not fulfil that, we are going to add a little more to that by saying that education up to the level of higher secondary in the country should be provided free, compulsory and uniform. The idea is very good but the practicability of that should be considered very seriously.

            About that aspect of uniformity and all that, one can go on speaking at length. I am not attempting that. We have several types of education being provided at the secondary level. There are Government schools providing education according to its syllabus. There is CBSE. There are recognised but unaided schools where education is of a different type.[m61]              So, all these various forms of educational system are remaining at the secondary level. Speaking about universalisation and making it compulsory is very difficult. Take the education by recognised but unaided schools. They are also providing secondary education. Anybody sending their children to that educational institution must have that much of money to provide for higher fees. Everything regarding that education, the uniform, the dress, the transportation, is very costly. Can you think of a situation where you will provide only one type of education at the secondary level? More ideal would be if the Government takes the responsibility. But, I do not say that the Government should take that responsibility because the Government may not have that resource to spend. Then, naturally the private sector will come. But, I want to know whether the private sector in this field will be allowed to have a free day. That is the problem. If the private sector comes and they expect reasonable profits, it is okay. One will not so much object because they are spending money.

            In the earlier days, in Kerala when the Christian Missionaries played a very significant role in promoting education in Kerala, they provided free education to the students. We had no case. They never exploited. But as time passed, as things changed, they also changed.

SHRI K.S. RAO : It is moneymaking now.

SHRI C.K. CHANDRAPPAN  : Now only moneymaking is there. The whole point is, what is happening in Kerala in the higher education sphere is different. It may not be so in the secondary education level. The Government is bringing the Bill to regulate it. But then they can get away because these are minority institutions. The minority institutions will get the constitutional protection that is provided with good intention to help the minorities to live with full freedom in this country.

SHRI B. MAHTAB (CUTTACK): Weaker sections also.

SHRI C.K. CHANDRAPPAN  : Yes, the weaker sections also. But, what is happening is that in the garb of minorities, when you are making education as a good business proposition, then these minority rights help them. They seek that protection and they exploit the whole society, not only students and parents but the whole society. That cannot be allowed.

            When we speak of an education of the type visualized by the mover of the Resolution, we have to think in terms of what kind of education that we will have at the secondary level.

MADAM CHAIRMAN  : Shri Chandrappanji, one minute.

            Hon. Members, the time allotted for this Resolution is over. Still, we have two hon. Members to speak on this and thereafter reply by the hon. Minister. So, if the House agrees on extending the time of the Resolution by half-an-hour we can do so.

SEVERAL HON. MEMBERS : Yes.

वित्त मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री तथा संसदीय कार्य मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री (श्री पवन कुमार बंसल): महोदया, आप देख लीजिए, अगर ज्यादा समय की जरूरत है, तो समय ज्यादा बढ़ा सकते हैं।

MADAM CHAIRMAN : I think half-an-hour is sufficient.

SHRI PAWAN KUMAR BANSAL : Madam, it can be extended further. There are other hon. Members wanting to speak. … (Interruptions)

MADAM CHAIRMAN : Only two speakers.

SHRI C.K. CHANDRAPPAN  : I have no objection. I will stop in two minutes.

SHRI PAWAN KUMAR BANSAL : No, I am asking that you be given more time.

MADAM CHAIRMAN : I think half-an-hour is all right. If we need more, we can increase the time by another half-an-hour.

श्री निखिल कुमार (औरंगाबाद, बिहार) : आप पहले माननीय सदस्यों को बोलने का मौका दे दीजिए, उसके बाद समय का पता चल जाएगा। 

MADAM CHAIRMAN : I think half-an-hour is sufficient. If we need more, then we can increase the time.

            Shri Chandrappan, please continue. [k62]  SHRI C.K. CHANDRAPPAN  : My only submission is that let us see that the constitutional promise or commitment made to the country is fulfilled. After that, we can think of enhancing free education to different sectors or different sections. Otherwise, we will be like the proverbial rider. There is a proverb : If the dreams come true, the beggars will ride on horses. That kind of situation will come. It is not that we should dream only; sometimes we should come to the ground realities also.

            While supporting the intention of the Resolution, I submit that let us implement it and let us make a firm resolve that we will implement the constitutional commitment regarding free and compulsory education to people made decades ago by the Founding Fathers of the Constitution. Let us see that it is fulfilled. Afterwards, we can think of going further and thinking in terms of compulsory, uniform higher secondary education and all that.

            With these words, I conclude.

                                                                                                                                       

SHRI K.S. RAO (ELURU): Madam, I congratulate Shri Ram Kripal Yadav for bringing this Resolution on making education free, compulsory and uniform. I stress on these words because of the importance of education. Education is the only instrument for the poor people with the help of which they can come up in their lives. We are all eye-witnesses to what happens. No matter how many hours they work during their lifetime, be it starting from 10 years and going even up to 60 or 70 years, we know what their plight is. We are aware that there are hundreds of millions of people who still live below the poverty line. There are also people above 65 who are living like orphans because their own children are not in a position to take care of them.

We also see the difference between the living standards of the person who is highly educated and the person who is not educated at all. A person who is not educated at all, even if he works 12 hours a day, he is not being paid even Rs. 80 per day, while a person who is highly educated and coming from IIM, IIT or other institutes of higher education, during his campus selection, he is being promised a package of rupees one crore. What is the difference? Both the people are working round the clock. The poor man who is not educated is working for even 12 hours a day and the person who is coming out of IIT or IIM or other institute of higher education is being paid rupees one crore not for the reason that he works for 12 hours but because of his quality of education or his enlightenment or his ability to produce. All these things are taken into consideration and not merely the working hours. This distinction is only because of education.

            Education has got so much importance that all of us have to take care of that. My friends, these three words – free, compulsory and uniform – have attracted me. We are thinking in terms of making free primary education. But taking primary education is not getting a person into any slot where he lives in a decent way. Then, later comes upper-primary education. These days we have upper-primary education and the same facilities are being provided like mid-day meal to attract those people so that they do not drop-out in-between and continue to study up to upper-primary level.  Even then, his life is miserable; he cannot live on his own; he cannot get an employment; and he cannot prove to be a useful citizen of the country except to sweat round the clock throughout his life-time. In view of this, naturally the need arises, once again, to extend it to at least higher education.

            Let me synchronize it with other things. We have got an Act prohibiting children up to 14 years to be employed by anybody or any institution. We agree to it because he will be crippled if he were to be employed, if he were to work hard beyond his capacity while he is below the age of 14. If we make education compulsory up to, at least, higher secondary level, automatically that law will be implemented. Now, we find that education is not made compulsory up to higher secondary level. We see thousands of boys below the age of 14 working.[SS63]  It is only in cases where complaints are made by somebody that these cases are coming to our notice that a judge, MP, MLA or a rich man is employing a person below the age of 14 years, and we are trying to take some action on it. Instead, if we make it compulsory right up to higher education, then this problem will not arise. Thereafter, the Act will automatically get implemented, and we would provide a little more education to them.

            Here, we would be making the parents to compulsorily send their children to schools, and there is no way out of it. Today, all that is happening is this, and it is my own experience. In the villages of my Constituency, particularly, the areas where the poorer people are living, there will be boys who have studied right up to MA or MSc. They would be from poorer sections of the society, and they would all be together playing cards or chatting or whiling away the time not in a useful way. If they are asked why they are doing like this, then they say that they have no employment. Even though they are MA and they have applied for jobs, but they are not getting employment for the past five years or ten years.

            Why do they not get employment? It is because they are MA, and they did not acquire any skills by virtue of their being MA or MSc., which can be put to use directly either by industry or trade or some other organisation. Therefore, the type of education that is given even up to the level of MA is not suitable for the needs of the country. Hence, the person is not getting employment. Therefore, the parents also think that their children should not suffer as they had to suffer. They want their children to live in a decent manner, and they do not want their children to soil their clothes by coming to the fields and doing the routine job that their parents are doing. Thereby, neither they are useful in the fields nor they are useful in getting employment. So, they are losing in both ways, and the net effect is that these days the parents think on this line. Why should they send their children to the schools at all? If they send them to the fields, then they can enhance their income by another Rs. 80 a day, which will be helpful to them. Therefore, the number of dropouts has gone up. We have realised that out of 100 students who have joined in for the primary education, only seven students are left by the time they go to the University. It means that 93 dropouts are there when they go to higher education.

            It is a good thing that the Government has taken up Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), and provided thousands of crores to ensure that these dropouts are reduced. They have also started the mid-day meal scheme to attract these boys. It is going all right to that extent, but that is not an end by which we are going to achieve the goals. It is because when we are making it compulsory to study up to higher education or upper primary education, then the number of unemployed people will be increasing. I am saying this because the type of education that we are giving is not suitable to the Indian needs.

            Therefore, my humble request -- that I have already made many times in this House -- is that they should be given education that provides them skills by which they can get employment or they can be utilised by the industry or trade or society effectively. If a person acquires certain skills, then the personal confidence will also go up. The person will come out of the institute with the confidence that he is a useful citizen, and he can get employment anywhere and even if he does not get employment, still he can be self-employed as the Government is providing enough finance. He could take loan at 3 per cent interest or 4 per cent interest or even zero interest and start his own life, and take care of his family. Therefore, I was emphasising this kind of education, which provides them skills and increases their self-confidence.   

MADAM CHAIRMAN: There should be upgradation of skills.

SHRI K.S. RAO : Yes, this kind of education is to be given. This is why I support the second word, that is, compulsory. The parents have no option except to send their children to schools right up to higher-secondary education. If this is done, then the second step will come.

            Thereafter, comes the issue of uniform education. Once again, I appreciate Shri Ram Kripal Yadav for calling it uniform education. The quality of education given in a village is totally different from that given in a Government school, and the quality of education that is given in a private school -- more so in an urban area -- is totally different and we are all aware about it. A fellow who goes to the convent -- his style, accent, language -- is totally different, and he attracts everyone.[r64]  But a person studying in a village, he studies in Hindi or Telugu medium, or in a local language, when he approaches a multinational company, he does not fit into it because he cannot understand the language; he cannot understand the accent, so his life would become miserable. The type of education imparted in a village school, Government school, is different from the type of education that is imparted in a private school in an urban area. Therefore, at least, up to higher education, if the standards of education were to be uniform, then you cannot differentiate or they will not be at a loss. In that sense, uniformity must also be there.

            While supporting these three phrases, that is, free education, compulsory education and uniform education, up to a higher standard, to begin with, is all right. My only addition to this is that it must be an education that imparts skills to them. So, instead of giving formal education up to MA or BA, after eighth standard, depending upon the aptitude of the boy, the Government should impart the necessary skills. For example, if we give a white paper to some children who do not know anything, they will go on scribbling something. You can deduce from that he might be having some interest in painting or in some art. Some other boys, five or six year old boys, when they see a car, they try to fiddle with it which might tell us that he might be interested in  the mechanical field or something of that kind. The teacher can judge the aptitude of the boy and then decide which profession suits him the best. Some boys might be interested in photography; somebody else may be interested in something else. So, depending upon the aptitude of the boy, skills must be imparted to an extent where he can live on his own.

While employed in a private company or Government, or even self-employed, suppose after 30 years, if he thinks that he must increase his social status or to improve his opportunities in the coming future, then the university doors must be kept open to them, no matter what his age is. He must be allowed to go and study at any time and in whatever course he wants to do. He must also be given the same degree, be it BA, MA, M.Tech , etc. He must not be looked down upon once again by somebody who did his doctorate simply because he got a doctorate. My humble request to the Government is that the focus should be on providing skills and the right type of education to the boys.

            In this context, I am happy to mention that this time the Government understood the importance of providing skills to the students, and it has provided Rs. 16,000 only for skill development in the Budget. I am not sure whether they have really understood the importance of the skills to be imparted and the importance of the time at which the skills have to be imparted.

            Now, we are making a huge claim that India has got the maximum number of technical manpower compared with any other country in the world. But when it comes to the ground reality, for example, if one stenographer working in the Parliament Secretariat were to go on leave or leave the job, it takes six months to get one more; if one translator were to resign from this Parliament Secretariat, it takes years to get another translator. You know how many Members have made a claim here that they want translators in their respective languages, but the Government’s reply was that it was not getting them. It means that we have not understood the needs of the country, that is, where we have got the shortage. You name any profession; if you want to get a cook, you cannot get one; if you want to get a stenographer, you cannot get one; if you want to get a computer data operator, you cannot get one.

            In respect of software technology, we are all very proud that India is number one in software industry, and we are also proud that America, Germany, U.K, and Japan were seeking our software technologists. We are happy to that extent, but I understand that even in our country, our software industry is short of software technologists who meet their requirements. That means we are preparing lakhs of technologists here, but they do not find themselves relevant in this country, that is, to meet the requirement of the industry here. So, the Government, the educational institutions must think as to what kind of software technologists we need here. What is the industry’s requirement and what are we producing? Anything that is produced in the educational institutions must have relevance to the needs of the industry and the society in this country. That way, a revolutionary change has to be brought in the type of education that is imparted in this country. The present system of education was started by the Britishers to cater to their needs and to loot the wealth of this country. [r65]  That is gone. Now we have got our Independence. We have to produce our own boys to our requirement. This has to be taken care of.  [KMR66]              While congratulating Mr. Ram Kripal Yadav for tabling this Resolution, and supporting the views expressed by Shri C.K. Chandrappan, I would say that this is a good Resolution. The Government should never think that a Private Bill is a Private Bill and a Government Bill is a Government Bill; we only care for the Government Bill and not for the Private Bill. Where there is substance, where there is a need to understand the gravity of the situation, the Government can bring some changes which are practically required. But neglecting a Bill on the ground that it is a Private Member’s Bill is not correct.

            I, therefore, request the Government and the Ministers who are present here to take note of these things and then bring this revolutionary change in the system of education and make education free, compulsory and uniform.

 

PROF. M. RAMADASS (PONDICHERRY): Madam Chairman, at the outset I support this Resolution moved by Shri Ram Kripal Yadav urging the Government to take effective steps to provide free, compulsory and uniform education  up to higher secondary level in the country.

            I think this Resolution strikes a dissimilarity from the Resolutions that we have passed earlier urging the Government to provide free and compulsory education up to the level of the primary education. Even the Constitution makers have made this provision. Mr. Chandrappan said that we should first accomplish this objective of the Constitution makers and then think of free and compulsory education up to the higher secondary level. To a certain extent this contention of Mr. Chandrappan may be correct. At the time when the Constitution was made the situation in India was vastly different from what it is today.

            In those days we had only 16 people out of hundred who could read and write. The country was plunged into illiteracy. Everywhere illiteracy was pervading our national life. Therefore, the Constitution makers felt that at least a minimum of education should be provided to every person so that India can be described as a literate country. We did not have the opportunities for education; we did not have facilities for education in the form of schools, in the form of teachers, in the form of infrastructure. Therefore, what was envisaged at that point of time was that we should have minimum education up to, say, sixth or eighth standard.

            But today, in 2008, when we are facing the challenges of the 21st century, we have to aim higher. Today we are building up a knowledge society. It is not merely a society of literates. It is not a question of whether Indians know the alphabets, whether they are able to understand what is education. Today we are making a big leap forward not only in the sphere of education but also in the sphere of society and economy. We are moving from a stage of literacy to a stage of knowledge building society. Therefore, what we require today is not simple education up to primary level. I would feel that every citizen of India, given the resources, should be given free and compulsory education up to the level of even college and university. When the hon. Finance Minister was making his Budget Speech he was saying that we are giving greater importance to higher education today because higher education builds the capabilities of the nation in terms of manpower.[KMR67]  Therefore, we are said to be envisaging the creation of about 1500 universities and the Knowledge Commission seems to be working on those lines.  So, when such is the paramount need and when the country is expanding so fast in the area of knowledge there is no hesitation to say that we should have free, compulsory and uniform education up to the secondary level.  Therefore, I would feel that the Resolution has been properly framed and we should be able to accept this Resolution.  I endorse the view of our earlier speaker, Shri K.S. Rao, who said that we should not reject it just because it has been moved by a Private Member.  It is a very sensible Resolution, very relevant to the contemporary needs of the society and, therefore, it should be accepted.

            Before I go into the three adjectives involved in this Resolution, I should underline how education is important today.  India’s greatest asset today is the human resource.  Next to China, India has the largest population but the quantity of population is not a great asset for us.  Quantity does not make differences in our economic and social development.  It is the quality that matters.  It is the quality of population that is important.  We have large potential of natural and technical resources, hidden and un-hidden resources.  If these resources are to be exploited for the benefit of the society the human resource must be able to work in combination with the resources.

            After all, output or production of commodities is the function of the labour, the resources, capital and entrepreneur resources in the country. So, all these four factors must combine together to produce an output which we describe as the Gross National Output. An increase in the Gross National Output in terms of percentages is denoted by economic development. Therefore, if this economic development has to occur, if this production function has to operate optimally combining these factors of production then the only possibility of increasing output in the country is to enhance the quality of labour force which comes from the population of the country.  So, population becomes an asset provided its quality is enhanced.  Population becomes a liability if its quality is not improved. There is no point in saying that India has hundred and odd million people steeped in greater illiteracy. But there is a great merit in saying that hundred and odd million people of this country are literate people. So, it is the quality that matters and not the quantity.  How do we improve the quality?

            There are at least two measures which our Government has realised, which all the countries have realised, that is by providing free and compulsory education to the people you are able to enhance the enlightenment, the ability of the people to work, understand and assimilate knowledge.    Therefore, providing education is one such component in enhancing the quality of the people.

            The second one, of course, is health.  Health of the people also influences the quality.

            Therefore, when we are embarking upon economic development, envisaging on the quality of human resource, then education must get the first precedence. All over the world, the empirical evidences are abounding in nature and we find that all educated countries are highly developed countries.  Wherever you find very high per capita income or wherever you find higher levels of development, you find that country is educated up to hundred per cent. There may be one or two exceptions here and there where you find a spurious correlation between education and economic development.  There are countries which have developed but they are undereducated.  And, there are countries which are under-educated but highly developed.  These are all noble exceptions or ignoble exceptions but the general rule is, there is a positive correlation, a positive correspondence between education and development.  In most of the countries where the per capita income is high the literacy level is also high. Where the literacy level is low the per capita income is also low.  Therefore, any Government which is aiming at social, cultural and economic development must pay utmost importance to the provision of education to the people.[R68]  That is why economists consider education as a common good.  Education is not a private good.  Education cannot be provided by individuals unto themselves.  I cannot educate myself or the hon. Minister cannot educate herself.  Education has to be provided by the society considering that as a common good.   A road is a common good; a hospital is a common good.  Like that, education has to be accepted as a common good. That is where the role of the Government comes in providing free education.  Constitution-makers, like Dr. Ambedkar realised the importance of education because it was he who reached the highest level through education.  Coming from a very backward and downtrodden community, a person who was denied the normal liberal education in his own days, suffering from the stigma of untouchability, a  man who was not even allowed to touch the chalk piece and go to the board and explain what a calculus is or what mathematics is, was able to get six degrees.  He was B.A. in Persian language; M.A. in Economics; M.S. in Economics; PhD in Economics; D.S. in Economics; and then Bar at Law.  He was destined to frame the Constitution of this country.  Through his own shining example, he was able to prove that education is the summum bonum of everyone’s life. When the obligation of framing the Indian Constitution was dawned on him or was entrusted to him, he felt that education should be given the highest precedence. Therefore, he wrote in the Indian Constitution that right to education should be considered as a noble right to the people and to ensure this right to education, he said that there should be free and compulsory education.  Of course, he did not anticipate the word “uniform” because in those days he did not find the disparities in education, the heterogeneity of education was such a big problem in the country at that point of time as it is today. Therefore, he aimed at that level of education so that we will be able to do it. 

            In 1964, the Kothari Commission also echoed the same sentiments.  In fact, it went a step further and said that India’s destiny is moulded in class rooms.  The Kothari Commission did not say that India’s destiny is determined in agriculture or industry or in service sector.  It said that India’s destiny is moulded in class rooms.  The moulder of the destiny is the teacher.  What is the implication of this?  If India is to develop, if India is to accelerate, then the class rooms should be accelerated by providing education to each and every person in the country.  Then came a number of other Committees, like the Ramamurthy Committee which underlined the significance of education.  Then came the New Education Policy framed by the late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. After taking over as Prime Minister, he felt that if this country is to revolutionalise itself, then the only way to do is to provide accessible education to everybody.  He should be credited for his fervour, for his enthusiasm and for his interest in initiating a discussion on the New Education Policy. That New Education Policy also underlined the importance of free and compulsory education to the people. 

            The National Common Minimum Programme, which is the latest document on the Government’s functioning also says that for every Indian there will be a qualitative, affordable and accessible education.  It means the Government will provide free and compulsory education to the people.  Therefore, all these documents, all these efforts of the Government tend to say that education has to be provided free and compulsorily.  Why should it be given free?  Why has the word “Free” come in there? It has come in because education is an input.  Education has to be acquired by paying a prescribed fee.… (Interruptions)

MADAM CHAIRMAN : The time allotted for this Resolution is over.  I have two more hon. Members to speak on this subject and then the reply of the hon. Minister.

            If the House agrees, we can extend the time by another 45 minutes.

SEVERAL HON. MEMBERS: Yes.

MADAM CHAIRMAN: Okay.[MSOffice69]                         17.00 hrs. PROF. M. RAMADASS : So, Madam, why it is to be made free because India, as Shri K.S. Rao has said, even today lives in poverty.  What was the poverty situation at that point of time?   At least today, they say that it is 25 per cent of people who are below the poverty line and in those days, seventy five per cent of people were below the poverty line.   At that point of time, people did not realize the imperative need for education.  Secondly, they did not have the resources to fall back upon and also to send the children to schools by paying prescribed fees. Therefore, in a situation of acute poverty, expecting the people to educate themselves or their children and when they were not understanding the crucial importance of education as an economic input, the Government had to provide this free education.  This free education has to be given as long as there is poverty and as long as the purchasing power of the people is not sufficient enough.  It is not only free education; to motivate the people, many of the State Governments have taken up noble measures which are sometimes criticised as populist measures. For example, our Union Territory Administration gives everything freely to the students who are coming to the schools. We are having free mid-day meal scheme. We are giving free uniforms to the students.  We are providing free chappels to the students who are coming to the schools. We have a morning breakfast scheme.  We provide coffee to the students in the evening.  So, except the night dinner, everything is provided by our Union Territory Administration to attract the students. 

            Sir, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), an excellent scheme of the Government of India, is also designed in that direction to spread education to all sections of the people.  Therefore what is important is that the Chief Minister of a particular State must feel elated to say that all my children in the age group of 6-14 years are in the class rooms.  No student of mine is outside the school system working as a labourer in a hotel or as a coolie or at some other place.  That should be the pride and the mission of every Chief Minister of a State. Education being the State subject, they should take up this.  Therefore, the students should not only be exempted from the prescribed fees, they should also be given certain incentives and disincentives so that they will be able to enrol themselves in the schools and we are able to get better students turned out of them.  That is why, because of poverty we have to provide this kind of a system.

            Madam, if the system has to work, it is not only that we should provide free education and also other concessions and benefits to students, but we should also realise that in spite of all these things, we should see whether we are able to eradicate the drop-out ratio or the stagnation in the schools.  The answer is not completely `yes’ because still 25 per cent of the children go out of the school system.  In spite of all the benefits that we are giving, in spite of all the monetary benefits that we are giving, we are not able to retain the students in the schools mainly because in many of the situations the education that we give is not attractive to the students. In the sense, we are providing simply a memory-based education. We are giving them a syllabus which is not attractive to them.  We are teaching them education in a mode and method which is not attractive. Therefore, educationists have found certain deep maladies in the system itself which keep the students away from the school system in spite of all these things.  That is why, the steps that the Government will have to take right now, not only up to the primary level but also up to the higher secondary level, is that you should frame a curriculum, a syllabus which would be able to entertain the students.  You give a burden-less education to children.  Do not ask children to bring kilos weights of books and notes to schools. Ask the children to keep everything in the schools.  Let them learn everything by play-way method.[a70]  Now, there are excellent methods whereby the students can learn by themselves with motivated teachers. But, unfortunately, this country does not have that kind of a teaching leadership. I do not think that the teachers in this country are prepared for a change-over to this type of a system. They are happy with the existing system. The teachers must become innovators, motivators, real guides and the real destiny-makers. Only then will we be able  to live up to that kind of a situation. Therefore, as a consequence or as a subsequent corollary of making education attractive, another step that the Government will have to take is to encourage the teachers to devise a variety of methods, methods of curricula, pedagogy, teaching to the students and examination.

The examination system that we have also drives away our boys and girls out of the system. What do they do? What do they learn and what do they write? What kind of an examination system that we have? The students have to write five out of ten questions; write two or three paragraphs out of six. So, they concentrate on something and if those portions do not appear in the examination, they fail. Once they fail, they think that that is the end of their career and they go out. Therefore, the free and compulsory education does not become effective unless you change the education system also. What steps we need to take is to change the teaching curricula, motivate the teachers and give them higher packages. I think the Sixth Pay Commission has done a great service to the teachers.  It has realised that the teachers must be paid higher wages and salaries. But it is the duty of the Ministry to give them the directions in which they should move. 

We should have an agenda for the teachers consistent with the needs of the society. What kind of changes are needed for teacher education, teacher evaluation and all these things must be made. It is not a kind of master-slave relationship as it exists today. Every teacher thinks that he is a master and the child is his slave. That kind of an attitude will no longer work in the school system. The teachers must take the children as their own children, bestow kindness, attention, give them proper guidance  and make education more and more attractive. Every child must feel happy to go to school. As soon as he gets up from the bed, he must feel: “I must see the face of my teacher. I must go to the school and I must see my friends. I must be able to play.”  So, a kind of freedom, a kind of liberty should be given to the students so that they are able to feel that they have a congenial, compatible environment in the school so that they are able to learn themselves.  This  is what is happening in the foreign countries. There is nothing wrong in imitating or copying the best practices and the best methods/modules that are available in the foreign countries. So, the western countries have given a certain model which, with suitable modifications, can be used for the Indian conditions. That is what I feel that the Ministry should take up.

Of course, it has appointed a number of Commissions and Committees which have gone into the system. But what is today required is you make concrete steps towards implementation of these schemes.

            Next, we must be able to ensure quality in education. Quality in education just cannot be measured by the examination marks. Education, again, is a production function. To put it in the economic terminology, it is a production function. Whatever inputs go into the system, quality must be increased in all those systems or those inputs. For example, teacher is an input. A computer is an input. A class-room situation is an input. The infrastructure available in the school is an input. If the quality of all these things is not going to improve, then the quality of education cannot improve. Therefore, the Government should understand which is the first cause and which is the consequence. We should not attack the consequence without understanding the cause. Therefore, every school must have proper infrastructure. Education must be mind-boggling. It must arouse interest in the students to think and ask why this is happening. When I throw a ball, the ball is attracted towards the earth. I should ask why it is happening.[R71]  It is not necessary that I know the Newton’s law of motion.  There is no point in knowing it, unless you know that this Newton’s law of motion is at the back of a ball falling from the sky towards the earth. We must kindle the spirit of enquiry. Only that will produce scholars of eminence, scientists of eminence, scientists who are required for the country. Are we prepared for this change? We have to be prepared. Only then we can make our educational institutions as real institutions or temples of knowledge.   Otherwise, they will remain only huts in the villages.  You see the Operation Blackboard.  The result of Operation Blackboard will tell you the way the schools are functioning in this country without proper facilities. I do now want to elaborate on that, but it is a lamentable fact that many of the schools and institutions are lacking in proper facilities.  The quality of education has to be related to larger issues.  More important than the quality is relevance of education.  Most of the educationists have now commented that the education being provided here is irrelevant to the needs of the society.  What is wanted by the society today?  After all, education is to make manpower.  This manpower is going to work in agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, mines and other things.  Unless we know what kind of manpower is required by this country, we cannot create such manpower.  That is why, today India is facing a very bad situation wherein we have created a large number of educated people, and at the same time, a large number of unemployed people.  The degree holders and various other highly educated people are not able to find a place.  At the same time, we have a situation where we do not have manpower required by the society.  Today, a multi-national corporate requires a highly qualified stenographer.  We are not able to get a stenographer, but we have hundreds of MAs and graduates on the line without knowing what is a data operation, what is stenography and what is typing.  They are not wanted anywhere.  Now, we have to reverse this trend.  Otherwise, the educational system today will be producing a waste in education. The Finance Minister is here.  People are asking for six per cent GDP investment in education. We have not achieved and we are not going to achieve that.  This mandate of six per cent of expenditure on education was given in 1964 by Kothari Commission.  But, today we are not spending more than 2.8 per cent of GDP on education.  My question is what is the purpose of allocating six per cent to an education which will produce people who are not required for industry, people who are not required for service sector and people who are not required even in agriculture to work with.  What is the fun in spending so much money and producing people who are not getting any opportunity to contribute in the social and economic development of the country?  Have our education produced men of values in this country or have we produced people with very high democratic norms who are required for the society?  Have you produced men of moral values?  If that is so, we can find a correlation between increasing education and reducing crime rates in the country.  Even that, we have not achieved.  Many of the objectives for which education is important have not been accomplished because of the topsy turvy system that we have been following in the country, not knowing what should come first and what second and third. If the system has to revive, we have to radically change the system to the needs of the society. Here comes the need for manpower planning.  Manpower planning is intrinsically related to economic planning.  We must have a perspective 10-year Plan requiring the developments in the country.  From that must flow what kind of manpower you want.  [MSOffice72]                We should see as to what is the demand for manpower and that demand must be met by educational institutions. Only then there will be one-to-one correspondence between education, employment and economic development. I do not know when we are going to achieve this one-to-one correspondence. But I am optimistic that with dynamic Ministers like Shrimati Purandeswari and others in the Ministry they will be able to give a new thrust to this area where we have to reduce the irrelevance of the curriculum and irrelevance of the education system.

            Madam, this is a very serious concern. Our boys and girls from poor families go to schools, colleges and universities with rosy aspirations, but they have to remain unemployed, not using their talents. Do you believe in a situation where a Ph.D student is working as an Elementary School Teacher in the private sector earning only Rs. 500 per month? What would be the feeling of his parents who have educated this boy by selling all their assets, hoping that their boy, after getting the Ph.D would become an IAS officer or would become a Lecturer or would become an Assistant Professor? All those hopes have been dashed because whatever he has studied and got a degree has not been respected, recognised and rewarded by the society. So, this is the situation. A kind of anger is developing among the youth. There is greater unrest among the youth, especially the educated youth because of this paradoxical phenomenon that we have created. Therefore, if education has to be meaningful to the society, whether it is free or compulsory, it has to be given in a relevant system.

            Madam, another point that makes this Resolution more imperative is that today we have produced large amounts of disparities, disparities both in literacy levels as well as in terms of educational empowerment and accomplishment. Can we say that the educational levels in rural areas are the same as the educational levels in urban areas? There are vast differences in terms of literacy itself. It is not uniform. You may say that it is 64 per cent at the national level according to 2001 Census. But do you have 64 per cent literacy in a village in Bihar or in a village in Andaman and Nicobar Islands or in a village in Uttar Pradesh? It is just an average. It does not take into account the disparities. You take the literacy levels of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on the one hand and the literacy levels of non-SC/ST communities and others on the other hand. There are great disparities. You take male-female literacy levels. There are differences even today.

So, when these disparities exist, one way of narrowing the gap, narrowing the disparity is to expedite the process of free and compulsory education to everybody, especially to the rural children. Rural children have not yet understood the significance of education and they will always have an opportunity cost towards going for a job rather than going to the school. We must inculcate a sense of significance among the rural people and girls. Of course, education level of girls is increasing, but still the poorer communities, the downtrodden communities and the backward communities have not come out of the cobwebs of backwardness. Even today, the parents feel that once they have a daughter she is a burden on them. They feel that the moment she attains puberty she should be married. Why should I educate her? Why should I spend my hard-earned resources on her and then get her married? So, better let me not educate her, take her as a housemaid and get her three meals a day somehow. So, this is the tendency that is prevailing. How can we motivate these people to send their daughters to schools? This can be done only through free and compulsory education. You must bring a legislation to punish the parents who are not sending their girls or their children to schools. That is the meaning of compulsory education. I hope Mr. K.S. Rao will agree with me.

SHRI B. MAHTAB (CUTTACK): He is a Ph.D. PROF. M. RAMADASS : Of course he is not unemployed. I was mentioning about Ph.D scholars who are unemployed or working as Elementary School Teachers. I have all respects for Mr. K.S. Rao, more than a doctorate would command respect.[R73]  [r74] Dr. K.S. Rao is an enlightened Member.

            Therefore, we have to bridge these gaps in literacy levels, gaps in educational advancement, achievements and accomplishments and the only way to do is to provide free and compulsory education.

            Coming to the uniformity of education, this is the most important need of the day today, once we accept that education is an earner.  Suppose, I have studied PhD and I get a job.  I get a Rs.20,000 as a salary.  I get Rs.20,000 because of my education.  So, education enables me to earn.  So, I become an earner.  Suppose, my neighbour does not get education, he is not able to get Rs.20,000.  Therefore, his income is zero and my income is Rs.20,000.  So, inequality in income comes.  So, the disparity in income distribution becomes true, becomes uneven because of unevenness of education.  Therefore, education must be considered in its totality and it can set right inequalities in the economy, in income, in employment, etc. provided it is given in the proper way.

            Madam, today, we have a variegated system of education.  In one particular Union Territory, you have ten types of education, which are not easily comparable.  You have regional medium language schools, you have English medium schools, you have play-way method schools, you have memory-based schools, you have Government schools, you have private schools, you have CBSE system and all kinds of systems are prevailing.

            What is happening there is that a boy who comes after Twelfth Standard is not of the same calibre and character because they get different kinds of education and this would be contributing to greater inequalities in the society.  If you consider the premise that education is equaliser of opportunities, different systems of education are working against the interest of the society by producing greater inequalities.

            Today, you see the system, as Dr. Rao has said, that people who are educated in the English Convent Schools go into IITs and IIMs.  They get their education out of the finances of the Government, which comes out of the taxpayers’ money.   But after getting their education, what kind of national commitment they have to this country?  Instead of working here, even at the fag end of the course, they get an employment outside.  They go and contribute to that country. 

We are proud to say that India has third largest reservoir of scientific and technical manpower.  We use that word.  But where is that scientific and technical manpower and where were they produced? They were produced on the Indian soil, by using the resources of the country.  But they are working elsewhere, contributing to the development of other country.   Russia, at least, have acknowledged that its development was due to the technocrats of India, but many countries have not acknowledged. 

Today, our IT professionals are contributing to whom? Not greatly to this country. Why? It is because you have given ivory tower education to these people.  But their own friends and brethren are languishing in the schools and colleges in the rural areas not knowing even the very basics of education.  Who is responsible for this?  It is not individuals who are responsible.  It is the Government which has perpetuated and produced this vicious circle of producing variegated education.

SHRI K.S. RAO (ELURU): We are responsible.

PROF. M. RAMADASS : Yes, we are responsible, the policy makers, including you and me and the Government.  Therefore, it is high time that we should bring a uniform system of education.  Of course, in a very large and diverse society like ours with 18 languages, with different cultures, with different modes, it would be very difficult to bring exactly a uniform system of education in this country.[r75]              But at least we should move towards a reasonable uniformity.  At least within a State, we should be able to ensure uniform education. Inter-State similarity and inter-State dissimilarity should be smaller, should be kept at the lowest level, and we should be able to do a great service in that way only.

            Then, all said and done, I agree with Dr. K.S. Rao that skill-based education should be given to children.  Madam Chairman, I would like to cite an instance from America.  You know why America has developed so fast.  It is because of the concept of their community colleges, which is yet to be learnt by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of India.  Fifty-four per cent of the students in the American colleges go into the community college system there.  The community college system provides skill-based education, relevant education, employment-oriented education, and once you finish your one-year course, you immediately get a job and enter into the economy, enter into the society.  He is contributing to the development of the economy.  The percentage of unemployed is almost ‘zero’.  It is ‘zero’ amongst the graduates who are coming out of the community colleges, and it is that institution which has catalyzed the development of America. Why do we not ape that model? We, in the Pondicherry University, introduced a first community college.  I had the credit of being the Director of that community college.  We wrote a report to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and to the University Grants Commission asking them to follow this principle, study the mechanism of the community college and introduce at least one community college in a district. I would like to assure the hon. Minister that no student coming out of community college will be useless; everybody will be useful in some avocation or other according to the way in which he is educated.  So, if that kind of education is brought even at the secondary level, it is possible. You ask a student to choose a course of his own according to his skills, according to his innate abilities, and according to his future planning and goals.  He would be able to devote his full attention on his studies.  Instead you dump on him something which he does not want to study and you compel him to study something which is not innate to him.  So, we should be able to go into the mode of a choice-based credit system wherever it is possible.  The choice-based credit system says that you allow the student to choose a course of his own either in the schools or in the colleges or in the University.  Do you not think that it would be more advantageous?  Do you not think that we produce students who will have a sense of belonging to education?  Instead of making him an alien to education, make him have a sense of belonging to education. I have chosen this topic, I have chosen computer education, and so, I have to study; I have chosen History and so, I have to study; I have chosen Economics and, therefore,  I have to study; I have chosen Econometrics and, therefore, I have to study.  If that sense of fulfilment comes, naturally every student would be productive and useful not only to himself but also to the society. 

            Therefore, Madam Chairman, keeping all these issues, I think, it is not only with respect to the Resolution as such but also the education system today needs a vast revamping, and I would feel that the Government should work out what is called a ‘common school system’.  It is not impossible.  It is quite possible.  You associate people who realistically understand the Indian society and the Indian milieu.  You may even constitute a Committee of the Parliament Members. You include Dr. K.S. Rao, myself and others who can contribute to you. We will give you beautiful suggestions which you can incorporate.   Please do not think that people who are outside the House are alone intelligent or more competent and the people here are alone more competent and more educated. Everywhere you find talents.  We are all people working with the students, with the society and with the people.  So, we know what education in action, not inaction, and we know education in action. [H76]              Therefore,  we would be able to give you fruitful suggestions to revamp the system of education.  Once the system of education is revamped, I hope that India would really reach into a zenith of its glory, zenith of its development. Education is the only catalyst of development.  The Ministry of Human Resources Development must take the initiative.  All other things can follow once education is given. With right of education, right of values to people, you can produce good Indian citizens, not criminals, but you would create higher generations -- we can see generations of Mahatma Gandhi; we can see generations of Ambedkar; and we can see generations of Jawaharlal Nehru if only education is taken on the right lines.

                                                                                                                       

MADAM CHAIRMAN  : Thank you very much.  You have made very good points and suggestions on this very important Resolution.

   

SHRI BIKRAM KESHARI DEO (KALAHANDI):  Madam, this Resolution moved by Shri Ram Kripal Yadav is a very effective Resolution. The House urges upon the Government to take effective steps to provide free, compulsory and uniform education up to Higher Secondary level in the country.

            So, I would confine myself from Primary Education to Higher Secondary Education.  I would not like to make an ingress into Higher Education because that is a complete different subject altogether, different ambit altogether.

            Madam, it has been seen that since Independence we followed a pattern of education known as  Macaulay Form of Education where three streams of Higher Education came into existence gradually with the Boards of the States. One was the  Indian Council of Secondary Education (ICSE), second was the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and the third was Higher Secondary Education of various States.  So, these were the three streams from where a child could pass his Higher Secondary Education and go in for a higher education.

            So, if you start comparing these three types of education, that is, ICSE, CBSE and the State pattern of education, you will see that out of these three types of education, the one, which comparatively ranked first till 1969-70 was the ICS Education.  Then, the CBSE started strengthening itself.  It started being more competitive with the ICSE.  Then, the States gradually picked up.  But here, I would like to say that the Secondary Education imparted in the States is in a very bad state of affairs. Also, the education imparted through the Kendriya Vidyalayas and the Jawahar Navodya Vidyalayas requires more attention and care.

            Madam, you would find that in most of the backward States, the level of education is really down. The barometer or the graph of education in the backward States is down.  The graph of women literacy in the backward States is really down.  So, these Vidyalayas have to strengthen themselves properly.

            So, it is my ardent request to the hon. Minister that these Navodya Vidyalayas and the Kendriya Vidyalayas, which are located in backward areas, should be strengthened.  For example, I come from the Kalahandi, one of the Districts of KVK, which is one of the most backward Districts in the country. There, the Kendriya Vidyalaya is not declared as a Hard Station.  There are no teachers available.  With great difficulty, after much persuasion and request to the hon. Minister and the HRD Ministry, I could manage to get the Principal there. Similar is the case with  Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya there. It has not been declared as a Hard Station, whereas the other Departments of the Central Government, namely,  Doordarshan, All India Radio have been declared as Hard Stations. My point is that these are also Central Government sponsored schemes and they should declare them also as Hard Stations.[r77]              Here, Madam Chairperson, I would like to say and I hope that this discussion will go a long way in establishing firmly the right of education which was enshrined in the Constitution during the last NDA Government, and it made education for children from the age of 6-14 years compulsory. It made it free and compulsory. That is enshrined in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. When secondary education starts, that should also be made compulsory and free. I am happy that in this Budget, this time the hon. Finance Minister has provided or has given provision for additional Class VIII, middle school, so that higher education could start from there.

            I was hearing my previous speaker. He gave a marathon and a wonderful speech. But he stressed mostly upon the higher education part. I agree with him on one point, and I think the entire House will also agree that the aptitude of our children, who are studying, should be carefully studied. By the time they reach Class IX or Standard IX, their aptitude should be carefully studied and observed by the Gurus, like it was done in the Guru Shiksha Parampara in the olden days of the ancient epics. Guru Shiksha Prampara is the ethics and ethos of our education system in this country. So, teachers should observe how the children are growing, what aptitude the child has and in which line of education will he shine and serve the nation to a great deal because, eventually, the education, which is given to our children, will cater to the need of various requirements of the country. It may be for military service, social service, medical service, doctors and to so many vocations. If I name them, it will take a long time. So, they will meet these requirements. So, a student or a child has to be created, mentally and physically developed and tuned to the times where he is about to serve the nation. Therefore, this is a good Resolution.

           Regarding uniformity in education, I think, that is also a good idea. But if you go to the Eighth Schedule, there are so many regional languages. So, to bring uniformity in education, we should have one, single language right from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Gujarat to Assam. I think the mother of all languages is Sanskrit which has got a raw deal after Independence. This has not been recognised properly also. So, Sanskrit, which is the mother of all languages, should be made a compulsory subject up to higher secondary education because during our time when we were studying, Sanskrit was there up to Class VII. I passed out from the Senior Cambridge School long back in 1969 from Delhi. Therefore, Madam, I would like to say here that our children have to be built, have to be educated according to the need of the hour and to take care of the crisis through which the country is passing, we have to have proper infrastructure in schools.

            So, when I see Shrimati Meira Kumar, the hon. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, I am reminded about those children with disabilities, retarded children and blind children. Those children are not getting the proper type of education. In my district, I am running a blind school, and there, education is given up to Class VII. I have been requesting the Ministry umpteen times to kindly give the status of higher secondary school. Also, the Governor of Orissa had visited that school and he had promised that he would take all steps to upgrade it to a high school. But till now it has not been done. I have been fighting for this.

            Then, I am running a mentally retarded school for mentally retarded children in my constituency. It is known as Chetna. The children are doing very well. But these physically challenged children could be an asset to our country, and they can play a major role in the IT sector, in the telecommunication sector and also in teaching other handicapped children to lead a normal life. So, they should also be given due importance, which, I feel, this Government is not giving because while reviewing the provisions for the handicapped children in the Committee meeting, I found that the budgetary provisions are very low.[m78]              How do you expect that these children can come up and go shoulder to shoulder with the other children of the society?

            Madam, this Resolution deals with higher secondary education. To strengthen the higher secondary education, we must take good steps. We have given mid-day meals scheme. We have started extending mid-day meals also to students up to Class 10. With this, I believe, more students will come to the schools. But what about the quality of the meal that is given in this scheme? There is no protein value. The money which is allotted for the diet for this scheme is abysmally low. Today, if you go to SC/ST hostels, you will see that the dietary provision there is very minimal, it is horrible. That food is not even given to the animals. Here the rich people give that much to their dogs.

            If you go to the rural areas or to tribal areas you will see that the mid-day meals are of very low quality. The quality should be enhanced. Our young students belonging to the harijans and the tribals should be given good food and made strong. … (Interruptions)

SHRI B. MAHTAB : Why do you not invite the Minister?

SHRI BIKRAM KESHARI DEO: Yes, I am requesting the hon. Minister. I will be grateful if she comes. I also invite the hon. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment to come to Kalahandi. Her father late Jagjivan Ramji had gone so many times to Kalahandi. He was very close to the Party then.

            Madam Chairperson, here I would like to say one thing about skill development. Skill development among the children is a major thing now. With the amount of industrialisation coming into the country, there are no skills in the country. There are no semi-skilled people also. The ITIs should work for skill development in the rural sector and right from the primary level to the middle school level, the children should be acquainted with skill development instruments and toys etc. so that by the time they achieve high school education they will have an interest for a particular type of trade where they could further excel in higher education. If they are not good students, they become dropouts and could achieve a skill through the ITIs or through the tool rooms.

            We do not have enough tool rooms in the country. We have only six tool rooms in the whole country. We have a population of 110 crore people. The investments are coming into billions of rupees into the country. But we have only six tool rooms. Each tool room has a capacity of only 100 children. How do you expect the skilled workforce to come up in the rural areas to meet the demand which is coming up in the future? I insist that this technical education and skill development should start from the primary level to the higher secondary level.

            I remember one thing in our school days. I do not know if that trade is still there. There used to be a hobby centre in every school. I do not know whether it is functional now or not. There was another class for moral education. Today you see that the society is so much divided that you see Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, everybody raising the slogans. Let us remember the words of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda said everybody has got a religion and they are like streams, they all flow into the ocean. When they flow into the ocean, all the religions seek one goal – the Brahma or the God or the Bhagwan or Jesus Christ or Allah. But all the rivers lead to that Brahm Gyan. It may be any religion.

            Therefore, this moral education is a very important factor, a very important part of education in the school days when we were studying. But I do not see the moral education classes now where you could build up young, secular children knowing about secular religion and not squabbling at the top for petty political gains.

            Madam Chairperson, you have given me lot of time. There is a lot to speak. If you start adding higher education, it becomes longer. So, I would like to restrict my speech to higher secondary education. I would plead with the hon. Minister through this Private Member’s Resolution which is a very important Resolution. Hon. Member Shri Ram Kripal Yadav brought it and I thank him for that. I plead with the hon. Minister that they will have some concern and think about the poor States like Orissa and particularly my KBK region. Besides, they must strengthen the educational system in Orissa. Now we have got 13 new districts in Orissa which came up in the last about ten years. [k79]              In certain new districts, we do not have Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Jawahar Vidyalayas. So, I would request the hon. Minister to establish one Kendriya Vidyalaya in Nawapara district because in my district, there is a Navodaya Jawahar Vidyalaya and a Kendriya Vidyalaya. So, I would request for a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Nawapara district.

MADAM CHAIRMAN : Shri Deo, please stop for a while. The time for discussion on this Resolution is over. We may extend it by half-an-hour.

SEVERAL HON. MEMBERS: Yes.

SHRI BIKRAM KESHARI DEO  : Therefore, I would request the hon. Minister that when they establish Kendriya Vidyalayas in future, a Kendriya Vidyalaya may be established in Nawapara district, and a Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in my district Kalahandi and in all the 30 districts of Orissa. 

Also, they should open more Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where the illiteracy among the women is highest in the country while they are developed and richer States because of their closeness to Delhi or because of their natural assets.  The States like Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand are totally neglected.

           

कुँवर मानवेन्द्र सिंह (मथुरा)  : सभापति महोदया, मैं आपकी इजाजत से यहां से बोलना चाहता हूं।

सभापति महोदया  : ठीक है।

 

कुँवर मानवेन्द्र सिंह  : मैं श्री राम कृपाल यादव जी का हृदय से आभारी हूं और धन्यवाद देता हूं कि उन्होंने बहुत महत्वपूर्ण प्राइवेट मैम्बर्स बिल उच्चतर माध्यमिक स्तर तक नःशुल्क और अनिवार्य शिक्षा प्रदान करने हेतु प्रस्तुत किया है। यह बहुत महत्वपूर्ण विषय है। शिक्षा का देश में हाल अच्छा नहीं है। सरकारी शिक्षण संस्थाओं की हालत अच्छी नहीं है। अगर हम पुराने सरकारी कालेजों की स्थिति देखें तो हालत खराब ही मिलेगी। मैं कई जगहों पर गया हूं। मैंने उत्तरप्रदेश में देखा है। मेरे लोक सभा क्षेत्र में बहुत अच्छे सरकारी कॉलेज होते थे लेकिन आज उनकी बिल्डिंगें गिर रही हैं, वहां स्टाफ नहीं है, पढ़ाने के लिए टीचर्स नहीं हैं, खेल के मैदान जो बहुत अच्छे होते थे, आज नहीं हैं। स्थिति दिन-पर-दिन बदतर से बदतर होती जा रही है जो अचम्भे और हमारे लिए शर्म की भी बात है। हम वहां जो अच्छी एजुकेशन प्रदान करते थे, आज उनसे हमारे बच्चे चाहते हुए भी शिक्षा प्राप्त नहीं कर पा रहे हैं। देखने में आता है कि बच्चों की संख्या दिन-पर-दिन कम होती जा रही है। उसका कारण यह है कि उनको अच्छी शिक्षा प्राप्त नहीं हो रही है। अगर हम दूसरी तरफ देखें तो प्राइवेट शिक्षण संस्थाएं बढ़ती जा रही हैं लेकिन एक बात अच्छी हुई है कि चाहे हम शहरों की तरफ जाएं या अपने क्षेत्र के देहातों में जाएं, वहां लोगों ने प्राइवेट संस्थाएं खोली हैं, उनमें अच्छी और संतोषजनक एजुकेशन मिल रही है और बच्चों की भी अच्छी तादाद है। उनकी फीस अधिक होने के कारण साधारण परिवार के व्यक्ति को दिक्कत आती है। सरकार से कम्पलसरी हायर एजुकेशन देने की बात कही गई है। आपको उस पर विशेष ध्यान देना चाहिए। माननीय मंत्री जी यहां उपस्थित हैं।

            मुझे याद है 1984 में जब मैं संसद का सदस्य था, माननीय राजीव गांधी जी हमारे प्रधान मंत्री थे। उस समय एजुकेशन पॉलिसी पर चर्चा हुई थी और शायद पंत जी एजुकेशन मिनिस्टर थे। उसमें बात थी कि क्यों न शिक्षा का राष्ट्रीयकरण किया जाए? हम शिक्षा का राष्ट्रीयकरण करें।  क्योंकि आज देखने में आया है, मैं एक तरफ आपको हमारे गवर्नमैन्ट कालेजेज हैं या और संस्थाओं के बारे में बता रहा हूं और दूसरी तरफ अगर हम केन्द्रीय विद्यालयों और नवोदय विद्यालयों को देखें, जो केन्द्र सरकार से संचालित हैं, अगर हम वहां जाएं और जब भी हमें वहां जाने का मौका मिलता है तो हम देखते हैं कि वहां एजूकेशन अच्छी है। वहां लोग पढ़ने के लिए लालायित रहते हैं। बहुत से लोग हमारे पास आते हैं कि हमारे एडमीशन वहां होने चाहिए। लेकिन वहां कुछ सीमाएं हैं, वहां केन्द्रीय सरकार से संबंध रखने वाले जो अधिकारी और कर्मचारी है, उनके बच्चों को प्राथमिकता दी जाती है। इसके अलावा वहां फौज से संबंध रखने वाले लोगों को भी प्राथमिकता दी जाती है। लेकिन मैं आपको बताना चाहता हूं कि वहां शिक्षा अच्छी क्यों है? उनमें समाज के वही लोग हैं जो सरकारी विद्यालयों, केन्द्रीय विद्यालय और  सर्वोदय विद्यालयों में पढ़ाते हैं। इसका एक कारण यह है कि उन्हें भारतवर्ष मे कहीं भी ट्रंसफर किया जा सकता है। यदि कोई शिकायत होती है तो वे कन्याकुमारी में या आसाम तक भेजे जा सकते हैं। उन्हें ईस्ट, नॉर्थ, वैस्ट या साउथ कहीं भी भेजा सकता है। इसलिए उनमें ट्रंसफर होने का भय होता है। लेकिन हमारे यहां ऐसा सिस्टम नहीं है। हम अगर प्राइमरी पाठशालाओं को देखें, हम मिडिल क्लास या आठवी कक्षा की पाठशालाओं को देखें तो बहुत दुख होता है। साठ साल की आजादी के बाद आज भी हमारे बच्चे पेड़ों के नीचे पढ़ते हुए नजर आते हैं। वहां जो बिल्डिंगें वहां बनी थीं, वे क्षतिग्रत हो गईं, वहां बाउंड्री नहीं है। ऐसे स्कूलों में जहां बच्चे पढ़ते हैं, वहां हमें कई बार जाने का मौका मिला है। हम अपने संसदीय क्षेत्र में अक्सर वहां जाते हैं। वहां सूअर चरते रहते हैं, गंदगी का साम्राज्य है। गांवों के लोगों ने उन बिल्डिंगों को शौचालय बना दिया है, क्योंकि वहां पर शौचालय नहीं हैं। उन स्कूलों में बच्चों के  लिए स्वच्छ पानी नहीं है। वहां  स्वास्थ्य की सेवाएं नहीं हैं, वहां फिजिकल एजूकेशन नहीं है। उनके खेलने के लिए वहां कोई मैदान नहीं है। फिर हम उन बच्चों को कैसे कहेंगे कि वे उस मानसिकता से उभरकर आगे आएं। मैं समझता हूं कि स्कूलों में जो एक अच्छा वातावरण मिलना चाहिए, वह दिन-प्रतिदिन खराब होता जा रहा है। टीचर्स स्कूलों में पढ़ाने के लिए नहीं आते हैं। इसके अलावा जिन स्कूलों में चार या छः टीचर्स की जरूरत है, वहां केवल दो टीचर्स हैं।

            सभापति महोदया, मुझे याद है, जब मैं पिछली बार चुनाव लड़ रहा था तो एक बच्चे ने आकर मेरा कुर्ता पकड़कर खींचा और उसने मुझसे ब्रज भाषा में कहा - ऐ मानवेन्द्र अगर तू जीत गयो तो ये मास्टर स्कूल में पढ़ायवे आवेंगे कि न आवेंगे। आप उस बच्चे की भावना, उस बच्चे की टीस देखिये कि वह बच्चा पढ़ना चाहता है, मगर टीचर्स स्कूल में पढ़ाने के लिए नहीं आते। वे नेतागिरी करते हैं, अपने खेतों में जुताई करते हैं या हम लोगों से संबंधित हैं, क्योंकि वे टीचर्स हैं, समाज के अच्छे लोग हैं, समाज में प्रभाव रखते हैं। हम उन्हें वहां से हटाने की बात नहीं करते। अगर ट्रंसफर होता है तो हम चाहते हैं कि यह अध्यापक वहीं स्कूल में रहे, क्योंकि वह हमारा व्यक्ति है। इसमें हमारा स्वार्थ है, क्योंकि हम अपने वोटों के लिए उनसे काम लेते हैं। मगर मैं आपके माध्यम से निवेदन करूंगा कि इस मामले में गहन विचार होना चाहिए। बच्चे हमारे समाज की रीढ़ की हड्डी हैं, बच्चे देश का भविष्य हैं। अगर हम उन्हें अच्छी शिक्षा नहीं देंगे तो हम आगे कैसे काम करेंगे।

            हम मानते हैं कि आज हमने प्राइवेट एजूकेशन में बहुत तरक्की की है। हमने टैक्निकल एजूकेशन में बहुत तरक्की की है। यदि आप कभी दिल्ली से मथुरा, आगरा तक जाते हैं तो देखते हैं कि सड़कों के दोनों तरफ बहुत अच्छे विद्यालय बन गये हैं, जिनमें टैक्निकल एजूकेशन, आई.टी. सैक्टर की एजूकेशन, एम.बी.ए. आदि कोर्सेज के माध्यम से शिक्षा दी जाती है। लेकिन उन विद्यालयों में फीस बहुत ज्यादा है। इसके साथ ही मैं कहना चाहता हूं कि उनमें ऐसे बहुत से सैन्टर्स हैं, यदि आप पता लगायें, जहां पैसे लेकर सर्टिफिकेट्स दिये जाते हैं, वहां पढ़ाई आज भी नहीं होती है। मेरे पास हमारे क्षेत्र के बच्चे कंप्यूटर का डिप्लोमा लेकर नौकरी के लिए आते हैं। अगर हम उन्हें कही भेजते हैं तो वहां उनका इंटरव्यू लिया जाता है, उनका एंट्रेन्स एग्जाम लिया जाता है तो वे उसकी ए.बी.सी. भी नहीं जानते हैं[b80] । मगर उनके पास उसके सर्टिफिकेट्स हैं जिसके लिए आपको यह देखना होगा कि जो लाइसेंसेज, जो परमिशन आपने उन संस्थाओं के लिए दी है, वह वाकई उनके भविष्य को और शिक्षा के भविष्य को सुरक्षित कर रहे हैं या नहीं कर रहे हैं। आज इसके लिए आपको एक कमेटी बनानी चाहिए।

सभापति महोदया : वैसे प्राइवेट इंस्टीटय़ूशंस की इंक्वायरी करवानी चाहिए।

कुँवर मानवेन्द्र सिंह  : उसके लिए एक कमेटी सैट-अप की जानी चाहिए। आपके अधिकारी जो आपने नियुक्त किए हैं, कुछ जयपुर से आते हैं, बी.एड की परीक्षाओं के लिए आते हैं, वहां बी.एड की बिल्डिंग ही नहीं है, उनको लाइसेंस दिये जाते हैं क्योंकि वे पैसा लेती हैं और उनमें हालत यह है कि उनकी बिल्डिंग न होने के कारण किसी छोटी जगह स्कूल चल रहा है, उनको वहां पर परमिशन दे दी गई। विद्यार्थी है नहीं, वे उनसे पैसा लेते हैं, लाखों करोड़ों रुपये एक-एक संस्था जहां कुछ भी नहीं है, वहां पर जो संस्था के मालिक हैं, वे करोड़ों रुपया कमा रहे हैं। एक के बाद दूसरी इस तरह की फर्जी संस्थाएं खुलती चली जा रही हैं। क्या हमारा इस सदन का यह फर्ज नहीं है, क्या माननीय मंत्री जी का यह फर्ज नहीं है कि उसकी जांच कराई जाए, उनके भविष्य से जो खिलवाड़ किया जा रहा है, उसको रोका जाए?

            मैं कई इस तरह के विद्यालय जानता हूं, चाहे हम इंटरमीडिएट्स की बात करें, चाहे प्राइवेट शिक्षा संस्थाओं की बात करें, हमारे और प्रांतों का पता नहीं, उत्तर प्रदेश के सेंटर्स को बेचा जाता है। वहां पर जो प्राइवेट संस्थाएं हैं, उनको लाखों रुपये में बेचा जाता है और सुनने में आता है कि वह पैसा चाहे तो वहां के जिले के शिक्षा अधिकारी से लेकर, एजुकेशन मिनिस्टर तक उनमें शामिल हैं, उनके उच्च अधिकारी शामिल हैं जिनको करोड़ों रुपया वसूल करके रिमोट इलाके में सेंटर्स दिये जाते हैं जहां पर नकल कराई जाती है, प्रति विषय तीन-तीन हजार रुपये उनके गार्जियन्स से लिये जाते हैं और उन बच्चों को चाहे प्रथम श्रेणी में पास कराइए जिसमें डिस्टिंक्शन कराने का इतना पैसा है, सैकेंड डिवीजन का इतना पैसा है, फर्स्ट डिवीजन का इतना पैसा है, यह निश्चित है। आज आप जांच कराएं, हमारे यहां परीक्षाएं हो रही हैं। जब हम वहां के जिला शिक्षा अधिकारी से कहते हैं तो पता लगता है कि वे बैठकर नकल करा रहे हैं। वहां का जो एडमिनिस्ट्रेशन है, सब मिले हुए हैं, सबको पैसा दिया जाता है- चाहे वह इंटरमीडिएट की परीक्षाएं हो, चाहे हाइस्कूल की परीक्षाएं हों, चाहे बी.ए. की परीक्षाएं हो, बी.एस.सी. हो या एम.एस.सी. हो या टैक्नीकल विद्यालय हों, कोई भी हों, एक नकल का साम्राज्य चल रहा है। हम बच्चों के भविष्य को क्यों अंधकार में डाल रहे हैं? क्यों नहीं हमारी सरकार ध्यान नहीं दे रही है? इस पर आज बहुत ही गंभीरता से सोचने की आवश्यकता है।

MADAM CHAIRMAN : Mere education is not enough; skill development must be there.

कुँवर मानवेन्द्र सिंह  : महोदया, वहां पर खुलेआम यह हो रहा है। सब जानते हैं, आप भी जानते होंगे। आपके यहां भी हो रहा होगा। बहुत से प्रांतों में पता लगता है कि टीचर की नियुक्ति हुई, टीचर जाता ही नहीं है। उसे अगर 8000 रुपये मिलते हैं तो उसने 2000 रुपये में दूसरा टीचर रख दिया। वह घर पर बैठा है। दूसरा टीचर पढ़ाने जा रहा है। पता लगा कि उसने तीसरे टीचर की नियुक्ति कर दी। ऐसे कई केसेज हुए हैं। वे बच्चों को पढ़ाते ही नहीं हैं। टीचर स्कूल में जाते ही नहीं हैं। बच्चे वापस घर में आ जाते हैं। एजुकेशन का सारा वातावरण समाप्त होता जा रहा है। इसलिए मैं आपके माध्यम से कहना चाहूंगा कि इस पर  हमें बेहद गंभीरता से सोचना चाहिए नहीं तो देश का भविष्य जो बच्चा है, हो सकता है कि चंद पैसे वालों के बच्चे बहुत अच्छी एजुकेशन प्राप्त करें, अच्छे-अच्छे कॉलेजों-स्कूलों में पढ़ें, मगर जो मध्यम वर्ग है, जो पिछड़ा-वर्ग है, जो आदिवासी है, जो गरीब वर्ग है,उनको भी संविधान में अधिकार मिले हुए हैं कि वे पढ़कर एक अच्छे नागरिक बनें, अच्छी जगह जाएं, अच्छी योग्यता हासिल करें मगर किसकी जिम्मेदारी है अगर उनको अच्छी शिक्षा नहीं दी जाती? यह हमारी जिम्मेदारी है। इस सम्मानित सदन की जिम्मेदारी है।  हमारी सरकार की जिम्मेदारी है। इस पर हमें अवश्य ध्यान देना चाहिए। यह बड़ा गंभीर विषय है। It is said that “health is wealth” It is also said:

“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;

  when health is lost, something is lost;

  when character is lost, everything is lost.” अगर हमें स्कूल में शिक्षा प्राप्त नहीं हुई, अगर चरित्र का निर्माण करने का मौका बच्चों को नहीं मिला तो हम चाहे किसी भी क्षेत्र में जाएं, चाहे हम राजनीति में जाएं, चाहे हम प्रशासन में जाएं या हम बिजनैस में जाएं। [r81]  18.00 hrs. या किसी भी क्षेत्र में हमारे पास चरित्र नहीं है, राष्ट्रीय चरित्र नहीं है, अगर हम देश के प्रति समर्पित नही हैं तो कहीं कुछ नहीं हो सकता है। हमारे समाज में अनेक विषमतायें हैं। हम लोग राजनीति मैं हैं, हम पर अनेक आरोप लगाये जाते हैं कि हम भ्रष्ट हैं, ईमानदार नहीं हैं, सफेदपोश लोग हैं। इसका कारण यह है कि हम लोगों का चरित्र गिरा हुआ है। हमने प्रशासन को देखा है कि वहां रिश्वत का बोलबाला है। अगर व्यवसाय में जायें तो टी.वी. और अखबारों में देखते हैं कि अगर कहीं भी गलत दवाईयां पकड़ी जाती हैं, या जो फर्जी दवाईयां बना रहे हैं, उन्हें कौन बना रहा है? वे लोग, जो समाज को जीवनदान तो देना चाहते हैं लेकिन गरीब आदमी उस गलत दवाई को खाता है तो मौत की नींद सो जाता है। इससे बड़ा अनर्थ और क्या हो सकता है? हमारे पास राष्ट्रीय चरित्र नहीं है। हमारे इंजीनियर्स पुल बनाते हैं। जो पुल 10 साल तक चलना चाहिये, वह बहुत जल्दी गिर जाता है। आज हम देखते हैं कि प्रधानमंत्री ग्रामीण सड़क योजना  में 22 लाख रुपये लगाकर एक किलोमीटर सड़क का निर्माण किया जा रहा है। लेकिन उस सड़क की दशा भी दयनीय होती है।  जब मैंने इस बात की वहां रिपोर्ट की तो एक जांच कमेटी वहां गई। मुझे फोन आय़ा कि मेरे निर्वाचन क्षेत्र मथुरा में 60 लाख रुपये चन्दे के लिये इकट्ठे किये जा रहे हैं। मैंने फोन करने वाले से पूछा कि आप कौन हैं तो उसने नाम बताने से इनकार कर दिया और कहा कि वह कांट्रेक्टर है लेकिन जो कमेटी जांच के लिये आयेगी, उसे 60 लाख रुपया दिया जायेगा। जांच रिपोर्ट वैसी की वैसी चली गई, उसमें कोई दोष नहीं बताया गया। इसका कारण हमारी एजुकेशन है। हमारे समाज में अच्छी एजुकेशन देने की आवश्यकता है ...( व्यवधान)

सभापति महोदय  :  लेकिन मोरल एजुकेशन चाहिये।

कुँवर मानवेन्द्र सिंह  : अच्छी एजुकेशन मिलनी चाहिये, चाहे फिजीकल एजुकेशन हो, मोरल एजुकेशन हो जो हर तरह से बच्चे के चरित्र का निर्माण करेगी। हम अच्छी एजुकेशन की बात कर रहे हैं और यह मिलनी चाहिये। जब तक सरकार शिक्षा का राष्ट्रीयकरण नहीं करेगी, कुछ नहीं हो सकता है।  केन्द्र सरकार इस ओर ध्यान दे, यह मेरा सुझाव है। टीचर्स को अच्छी और ज्यादा तनख्वाह मिलनी चाहिये। उनका ट्रासंफर भी करें । कई लोगों ने मुझ से कहा है कि प्राइमरी एजुकेशन में तब सुधार होगा जब टीचर्स को अच्छी तनख्वाह् मिलेंगी। सरकार एजुकेशन पर ज्यादा पैसा खर्च करे। कम से कम बच्चे बरसात, जाड़े में पढ़े सकें।

            सभापति जी, हमारी सरकार ने बच्चो के लिये भोजन की व्यवस्था की है। हमारे यहां एक संस्था अक्षयपात्र है जिसने गत वर्ष 70 हजार बच्चों के लिये भोजन की व्यवस्था की थी जिसमें एक बार मैं गया था। उसने बहुत अच्छा भोजन बच्चों के लिये बनाया था जिसे मैंने भी खाया। अगली बार के लिये एक लाख बच्चों के लिये भोजन तैयार करने की सोच रहा है। उनकी मोबाइल वैन खाना लेकर जाती है। इससे दो फायदे हुये हैं। इससे बच्चों की एटैंडेंस स्कूल में बढ़ी है, वहां दूसरी ओर जिन बच्चों को एक समय का खाना मुश्किल से मिलता था, आज वे अच्छा खाना पा रहे हैं। मैंने ऐसे स्कूलों को विज़िट किया है और मैंने देखा है कि बच्चों का पढ़ने में मन लगा है। वहां के स्कूलों की एजुकेशन और परिणांमों में प्रतिशत बढ़ा है क्योंकि उन्हे अच्छा भोजन मिल रहा है।.

            सभापति जी, मैंने बहुत से स्कूलों के देखा है जहां एन.जी.ओंज़. अक्षयपात्र जैसे नहीं हैं जो खाना बना सकें। वहां की हालत यह है कि जो टीचर्स हैं, केवल दो हैं- एक प्रिंसीपल और एक टीचर। वहां पर वे लोग खुद ही खाना बनाते हैं। उनका सारा दिन खाना बनाने में चला जाता है। वह खाना भी कुछ बच्चों को अच्छा मिला और कुछ को नहीं। हम अखबारों में पढ़ते हैं कि खराब खाना मिलने से कई बच्चे बीमार हो गए। केन्द्र सरकार तमाम पैसा बच्चों के अच्छा खाने के लिए दे रही है, मगर उसका दुरुपयोग न हो, इसकी भी व्यवस्था सरकार को करनी चाहिए। आप एनजीओज़ को पैसा दें। अक्षय पात्र जैसे एनजीओ ने बहुत से जिलों में काम शुरू किया है। और भी एनजीओ इस क्षेत्र में आ सकते हैं जिससे पैसे का सदुपयोग हो, बच्चों को अच्छा खाना मिले, स्कूलों में बच्चों की संख्या बढ़े, परीक्षाफल अच्छे आएं और बच्चे अच्छी योग्यता हासिल कर सकें।

            अंत में यही कहते हुए मैं इस बिल का पुरज़ोर समर्थन करता हूँ और ऐसी आशा करता हूं कि भविष्य में इस एजुकेशन पर केन्द्र सरकार का शिक्षा मंत्रालय विशेष ध्यान देते हुए इसके राष्ट्रीयकरण की बात करेगा जो माननीय स्वर्गीय राजीव गांधी के समय में शुरू हुई थी। ऐसा करने से हम पूरे भारतवर्ष के हर क्षेत्र में, चाहे वे शहरी क्षेत्र हों, ग्रामीण, आदिवासी या दलित क्षेत्र हों, देश के किसी भी कोने में हम स्वस्थ और अच्छी शिक्षा दे सकें जिससे हमारे बच्चे देश के अच्छे नागरिक बनें और देश अच्छी दिशा में आगे जाए।

   

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI D. PURANDESWARI): Madam Chairman Sir, I have gone through the discussion in the House on the Private Member's resolution moved by Sri Ramkripal Yadav on 31st August, 2007. In that resolution he has urged upon the Government to take required steps to ensure that free, compulsory and uniform education up to the higher Secondary level is provided to the children.

I may not be in a position to by name answer all the apprehensions that have been raised by the hon. Members,  but at the onset would like to thank Shri RamKripal Yadav for having brought in this very important Resolution. I would also like to thank Shri Aaron Rashid, Dr. K.S. Manoj, Shri Thawar Chand Gehlot, Shri Mahtab, Shri Shailendra Kumar, Shri R.P. Verma, Dr. Sebastian Paul, Shri Chandrappan, Shri K.S. Rao, Prof. Ramadass, Shri B.K. Deo, and Kunwar Manvendra Singh for having actively participated in the deliberations and for having given their valuable suggestions in this regard.

Let me at the outset reiterate that education to us  is a matter of faith for us and we have always accorded utmost importance to education because we definitely believe that education is the panacea for all our problems and our difficulties, as has been emphasized by so many of my hon. colleagues.  Even during our freedom movement, our national leaders including Gandhiji had emphasized that education needs to be the basis of all our development and growth. In the Constitution which was adopted soon after our Independence, our leaders took care to ensure that we did provide to meet the educational needs of the children of our country and also the requirements of our country. However, our financial and infrastructural constraints did not permit us to actually devise or formulate any grandiose schemes or even provide ambitious priorities for our educational system We started with a very humble beginning by making provisions in Part IV of the Constitution which ensured to provide free and universal primary education for all our children within 10 years of the commencement of the Constitution. But we have not remained in this position and there has been a sea change in our approach and conception of what the educational system needs to be for our country. We had adopted a federal form of Government wherein the State Governments are free to function within their respective jurisdiction, with a fair degree of autonomy. Since it was thought and felt that a uniform pattern of education would not only be difficult but would also not be desirable. Education  was, therefore, allotted to the State Governments in the constitutional scheme of distribution of power between the Union and the State Governments. [r82]  It was also felt that every State could decide for itself what would ideally be suitable for the States and they would come out with a system which would cater more to the local needs, requirements and resources of that particular State. We were quite conscious that so far as the education system was concerned, we should always settle for the best.

I would just like to go back slightly.  The National Policy of Education, which  was introduced in 1986 and later modified in 1992, which envisages a national system of education based on a national curriculum framework which would contain a common core along with other components that are flexible. The National Curriculum Framework, 2005, which is NCF 2005, has been formulated through a wide participatory process where the concerns of all the stakeholders were actually taken into consideration.  The NCF 2005 envisages strengthening the national system of education in a pluralistic society based on the values enshrined in the Constitution of India, such  as, social justice, equality and secularism. The NCERT has prepared the syllabi for all Classes and in the light of NCF 2005, the State Governments are expected to  revise syllabus for the respective State Boards based on the NCF 2005. 

It is, therefore, not correct to say that we have not attained sufficient progress in the field of education. Now, if we go back to our literacy figure, wherein our literacy was around 18.33 per cent when we attained our Independence or rather in 1951 when our  literacy rates were as low as 18.33 per cent.  In 2004, according to the National Sample Survey, our literacy is around 67.30 per cent wherein the male literacy is 77 per cent; and the female literacy is 57 per cent. We must realize that the educational development in a country as large as India which was subjected to exploitation during centuries of colonial rule, not only  was but continues to be a gigantic task and there is after all no magic wand that can alter the system overnight. The first important step that was adopted in this direction was the 86th Constitution Amendment Act making free and compulsory education for all children between 6 and 14 years of age a fundamental right. This constitutional amendment was brought in 2002. The new article 21A which made right to education a Fundamental Right has not been operationalised as yet but let me inform the august House, through you, Madam, that we are definitely actively on the job and I have reasons to believe that the legislation would soon be brought before the House. Instantly, there has been no provision that has been made in the Constitution which would say that secondary and higher secondary education made be made free and compulsory, which is not a constitutional mandate that we have.  Even as we have a constitutional mandate which says that free and compulsory education needs to be provided for all those children between the ages of 6 and 14 within our country.

            But for universalisation of elementary education which we have already been doing in the country, there are three major components which we goby.  The first one would be the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the second  one would be the Mid-day Meal Scheme and of course, the third would be the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas. [r83]                Turning to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, this was implemented in the year 2001-02 with the basic objective of universalising enrolment in elementary education, besides enrolment, even retention by the year 2010.   When we go into the achievements under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the gross enrolment ratio in 2004-05 is 108 per cent for the primary level and 70.5 per cent for the higher primary level.  Madam, 98 per cent of the rural population have access to primary schools within one kilometre.  This is one of the norms.  According to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, there has to be a school every one kilometre to make elementary education accessible for the children.

            Out of school children, the percentage has come down to less than four per cent of the population.   Out of school children were about 4.4 crore in 2001 and today they are around 76 lakh. Yes, we do agree that these are the children which we would call the hard to reach children, probably children belonging to migrant families but our efforts are still on to ensure that this number would also come down.

            Madam, 8.81 lakh additional teachers have been recruited up to 31st December 2007;  1.87 lakh new schools have been opened up to 31st December 2007; and 7.56 lakh additional class rooms have been constructed up to 31st of December 2007.

MADAM CHAIRMAN : The time allotted for the Resolution is over.  If the House agrees we may extend the time till the Minister’s reply is over.

SEVERAL HON. MEMBERS: Yes, Madam.

MADAM CHAIRMAN: It is agreed.  Madam, you may continue.

SHRIMATI D. PURANDESWARI: The other two very important components in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would be the Education Guarantee Scheme and the alternative innovative education.  These two schemes primarily focus on those children who do not go to the school or are unable to go to the school.  These two schemes actually provide bridge courses to ensure that children out of schools are actually brought into these centres, are given bridge course and once they are well equipped then they are mainstreamed into education.  These two components have been very effective in ensuring that out of school children are actually brought into the main stream of education.

            This laudable Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is supported by probably the largest meal scheme that we have in our country, which is the Mid Day Meal Scheme.  Today, it covers 9.7 crore students in all the blocks up to class five and 1.67 crore students in 3,479 educational backward blocks up to class eight.  This is up to 2007-08.  Now, the Mid Day Meal Scheme has been extended to cover all the children in all the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan schools, the Government-aided and the Government schools up to class eight.  Therefore, this large meal scheme today would cover around 13.9 crore children all over the country.

            Turning to the nutrition that is given to the children through the Mid Day Meal Scheme, the Government provides grains free of cost to the States to cook for the children.  Conversion cost is provided to ensure that the children receive the required amounts of Carbohydrates and Protein in their food.  Definitely, through you, Madam, I would like to apprise my hon. colleagues that unless there is community participation I do not think this scheme can actually do well to the extent that we would want this scheme to do.

            There are Parent Teachers Associations that are formed in the schools to ensure that the parents come to the school, check the meal to ensure that this meal is cooked in good hygienic conditions and nutritious food is served to the children.  So, I would request my hon. colleagues, through you Madam, that if they could bring that kind of pressure on the State Governments to ensure that the Parent Teachers Associations are actually strengthened and are functional for the welfare and the good of our own children.

            Turning to the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, these are residential schools at the upper primary level for girls predominantly belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and the minority communities.[R84]  These are implemented in the educationally backward blocks where female literacy rate is actually much below the national average and there is a wide gender gap in literacy which is above the national average. This is already being implemented in 24 States and 2180 KGBVs have been sanctioned upto March, 2007 and the number operational upto 31st December, 2007 is 2180 KGBVs.  Now, 410 new KGBVs would also be set up  under the revised guidelines which would be effective from the 1st of April, 2008.  We already have sanctioned new KGBVs to some districts and this scheme covers 1,82,960 girls.  This is the extent that the KGBVs are functioning.

            So far as universalisation of secondary and higher secondary education which is the thrust of the resolution that has been brought in by my hon. colleague, Shri Ramkripal Yadav, is concerned, there is a 29 per cent drop-out rate between classes I  and V, a 51 per cent drop-out rate in classes I and VIII and 62 per cent drop-out between classes I and X. The gross enrolment ratio that we have for classes IX to XII is around 40 per cent.  So, it is essential that even as we talk of universalising secondary and higher secondary education, we need to ensure that we address these problems that still exist in the elementary education.   It is after all the children who come out of elementary education go into secondary and higher secondary education. Therefore, universalisation of secondary education could be definitely tackled or rather answered after we have strengthened the lacunae that we have in the elementary education. Even then, the Central Government has taken several initiatives in the secondary and higher secondary levels of education in the shape of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathans that we have and also the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas that are there in the secondary education level.

             Now, there are 554 Navodaya Vidyalayas which is one per district and 972 Kendriya Vidyalayas which are primarily meant for transferable Central Government employees.  But this does not mean that the general students belonging to the citizens of the area do not get into the Kendriya Vidyalayas.  There is a percentage of seats which is allocated to the children from the local area also.  About 44,000 Government secondary schools are to be strengthened in the ensuing Eleventh Five Year Plan.  There is a thought process to establish 6000 model schools to be opened at the block level, one in each block, which would actually be model schools for the schools in that area to follow.  New schools would be provided in such areas where there are no schools that exist. So, the 6000 model schools would first cater to such areas which do not have schools and the rest would be distributed.  An amount of Rs. 130 crores has been provided in the budget for setting up Navodaya Vidyalayas in 20 districts with a large concentration of SCs and STs. 

            Coming to the aspect of free education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, that is elementary education, is free for all children between the ages of six and fourteen. Coming to the secondary level of education, education in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas  is again free for children because these schools basically cater to the children belonging to the disadvantaged sections of society.  In the Kendriya Vidyalayas  there is no fee as such which is charged from the students but there is a Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi which is collected from the child which is to the tune of Rs. 140 and this is basically for the upgradation of laboratories, keeping of libraries  and so on and [MSOffice85] so forth.

            As I had mentioned earlier, education being a State subject, it is for the States to consider if they would want secondary education to be free. Uniformity in education is the other thrust area in the Resolution.  India, as we all are aware, is a country of great diversity.  The diversity is not only geographical but it also cuts across religions, cultures, traditions, languages, etc.  Therefore, taking diversity into consideration, uniform syllabus may not be acceptable to the sentiments of so many people.  That is why every State has its own State syllabus. Every State, taking into consideration the sentiments and the sensitivities of its own State, incorporates them into its syllabus.  Therefore, a uniform syllabus at this point in time would not be desirable and would also not be possible.  However, there is a core curriculum that is provided in the National Curriculum Framework 2005, which is used throughout the country.  The States are free to adopt and accept the National Curriculum Framework.  There is a uniformity in the education sector in the “ten plus two plus three” system that we follow. 

            There was a question raised about para teachers.  There are today around 10.91 per cent of para teachers in the total number of teachers that we have.  The reasons the States have to turn towards para teachers was there was a sudden spurt in the enrolment in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Programme.  This has lead to shortage of qualified teachers and which was why para teachers were recruited. 

            However, even as teachers stepped into service, we ensure that they are given a pre-service training where the teachers are trained for a short period of time.  If they are already experienced teachers, then they undergo a training of thirty days.  If they are inexperienced, then they do undergo training for sixty days before they come into the profession of teaching in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan schools. 

            Some of the other concerns that have been raised today were with regard to allocation for education.  The National Common Minimum Programme assured six per cent of GDP allocation for education.  We still stand by it.  We are still committed to the allocation of six per cent of GDP towards education.  But yet the hon. Members would need to keep in mind that six per cent of GDP that we have assured for education is not simply the Government of India’s share.  But it is the share of both the Government of India and the share of the States put together.  Over the years, even as the share of Government of India has been going up, there is a slight decline in the States’ share.  So, through you, I would request the hon. Members to put pressure on their respective State Governments to ensure that the States do not cut it down and must rather increase it. 

            The allocation for education between the Tenth and the Eleventh Plan, there has been a considerable increase.  Allocation in 2008-09 for elementary education was Rs. 34,400 crore and for 2007-08 it was Rs. 28,674 crore.  In terms of percentage of public expenditure, thirteen per cent is the expenditure between the State Governments and the Central Government.[MSOffice86]  There also has been concerns raised about vocational education wherein it was felt that we have not been doing sufficiently enough to ensure that the skills are upgraded or rather the children are being given skilled development education.    There are already 9,500 vocational schools with a capacity of ten lakh students.  The Eleventh Plan target is to ensure that 10,000 more vocational schools would be introduced with relevant curriculum and with the relevant courses also.  Even in the CBSC there is life-skill education that is provided to children in the classes from six to eight.  The thrust of this education is to ensure that children gain an insight into their own personalities besides acquiring and understanding of their environment.  This would ensure or rather help the child to actually look into herself or himself, identify the strength and then also identify the interest.  So, the child even at the class six in the CBSE schools is exposed to vocational education. 

        As we are all aware, an ideal education system needs to be pyramidal in shape wherein the broad-based would represent the school education, the middle portion the secondary education and the top those echelon students who would want to pursue specialized professional or disciplines in education. Unless there is a vocational bias in the secondary education, we would have more and more students transiting into higher education wherein the employment chances would be very narrow. Therefore, realising this that it is very essential that we need to give the right kind of support to vocational education and skill development, the hon. Prime Minister himself has been very keen on the skill development mission, as has been emphasised by my hon. colleague, Shri K.S. Rao.  We are also trying to come out with more polytechnic institutions particularly some in public-private partnership to ensure that the disparity between the market requirement and what our institutes are churning out would be filled.  So unless there is a public-private partnership, probably this gap could not covered.

         Some of the other points which have been raised by Kunwar Manvendra Singh and also by Prof. M. Ramadass, I think, pertain more to the higher education which is beyond the scope of the Private Member’s Resolution that has been brought in. There has been a concern raised by my colleague, Shri Bikram Keshari Deo about the children with special needs.  An integrated education for disabled children and to mainstream them into regular schools has been a part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and inclusiveness has been one of the most important focussed areas of our educational policy. Here we have been taking the help and support of the NGOs to identify the children in the districts and bring them to school.  We have been ensuring that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan schools have a barrier-free infrastructure so that these children do not have any difficulty in availing the facilities provided at the school. Madam, work-oriented education is also a part of the school curriculum as per the National curriculum framework 2005.  There is an emphasis on moral education where the hon. colleagues have spoken out their concerns about moral education. Education is ethical values, secularism, physical training and sports have all been an integral part of the education system. Shri Deo has also raised concerns about the KGBVs in the State of Orissa.  In the State of Orissa, there are 114 KGBVS which are all operational and particularly in the Kalahandi district, there are seven KGBVS which are operational. In the Naupada district, there are 4 KGBVs that are already operational.

            With these words, I think I have answered most of the concerns that have been raised by my colleagues here. I have answered almost everything. I have replied to all the apprehensions and concerns that have been raised by my colleagues.

            As I have mentioned earlier, let me once again re-emphasise that education is an article of faith with us. We will not be able to play a very effective role in the emerging scenario when our country is posed for a phenomenal growth. The 21st Century has been universally acknowledged as a knowledge century and if we want India to play a leading role in the global affairs, we must ensure that education should be the focal point of all our programmes and priorities which we are very well seized of.

            With these words, I would request the hon. Member Shri Ram Kripal Yadav – I do not see him here - to withdraw his resolution emphasizing that we will take all pro-active steps to improve the educational system keeping in mind the various suggestions that have come from the hon. Members.

SHRI B. MAHTAB :  It seems the hon. Minister does not want this to be made free.… (Interruptions)

SHRIMATI D. PURANDESWARI: I never said that we did not want to make it free. I said this: “Let us strengthen elementary education. Let us control the lacunae and firm up the lacunae that exist in the elementary education.” Definitely, we will think about higher education. 

MADAM CHAIRMAN : She has told about each and every thing.

            Hon. Members, I have to inform you that Shri Ram Kripal Yadav who is the mover of this Resolution is not present in the House to exercise his right to reply.

            Therefore, the Resolution moved by Shri Yadav has to be put to the vote of the House.

            I will, now, put the Resolution regarding free and compulsory education up to higher secondary level moved by Shri Ram Kripal Yadav to the vote of the House.

             

            The question is:

“This House urges upon the Government to take effective steps to provide free, compulsory and uniform education up to Higher Secondary level in the country”   The Resolution was negatived.

     

MADAM CHAIRMAN:  Now, the House will take up Item No. 21  Shrimati Jyotirmoyee Sikdar –not present.

            Item No. 22 – Shri Rasheed Masood –not present.

            Item No. 23 – Shri Haribhau Rathod.

18.38 hrs.