INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL 2007
The Month that was ...

GOVT TO CORRECT WRONGS IN EDUCATION RIGHTS BILL

FIVE years later, and the fundamental right to education is yet to be notified, because the enabling-Right to Education-legislation is not ready. Now, the Centre is considering revisiting the idea of a central legislation as against the idea of a model Right to Education Bill for state enact and adopt. The idea of a model bill was mooted last June and states were asked to respond to the proposal.

Most states have disagreed with the idea of a model bill. To an extent forcing the Centre to revisit the idea of a central legislation. Given that the financial burden was the main reason for opting for individual state legislations based on a model bill, any revisit would include reworking of the financial implications of the Right to Education Bill.

The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee which had worked on the draft bill, had includes estimates worked out by the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA). As per these estimates, the government would require to spend a minimum of Rs 3, 21,196 crore over six years to implement the legislation. At an average, it would mean that the government would have to spend nearly Rs 53,000 crore over and above current expenditure.

It is felt that the actual cost of implementing the legislation may be lower. Many of the expenses are being taken care of by the funding for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. A more realistic expenditure bill would be arrived at by dovetailing the expenses of the Right to Education Bill and the SSA. This may help allay the fears of a substantially increased fiscal burden on the Centre.

The fear of increased volume of public interest litigations (PIL) mandating the Centre to sanction and fund infrastructure far beyond its financial capability is seen as another reason for exploring the model bill route. This fear, too, could be allayed by setting realistic targets for states to roll out the implementation of the bill.

The reworked legislation would also stagger implementation. States with female literacy rate of 60% or more like Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Maharashtra will have to implement the legislation in three years, while states with female literacy rates of 40-60% like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat will do so in three to five years. Finally states with female literacy of less than 40% like Bihar and Jharkhand will have a seven-year time frame. The draft Right to Education Bill provided a time frame of three years while the model bill offers no time frame.

Experts say that a time frame which is in tune with the economic development and literacy index of the state would ensure that the legislation is implemented in an atmosphere that will maximize benefits.