Dr. Saroj Vyas: July 2011

A STUDY ON THE AWARENESS AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION ON “THE RIGHT OF CHILDREN TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION ACT, 2009” (RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT).

Dr Saroj Vyas*

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted to explore the awareness on RTE (Right to Education) Act, 2009 among elementary school teachers in the National Capital region. The sample of 160 elementary school teachers was drawn from Delhi and NCR. A self made questionnaire comprising 20 multiple choice items was used by the investigator. The study has brought out that the level of awareness among teachers included in this study is not up to mark, even after more than one year of implementation of this Act. Major finding of the study reveals that Government teachers are comparatively more aware as compared to Non- Government teachers.

INTRODUCTION

For the development of any country education for all is a necessary pre-requisite. To make this a reality, a positive beginning was made by the government in India and the Right to Education Act was passed by the Indian Parliament on 4^th August, 2009. The Act describes the modalities having the provision for free and compulsory education for children between 6 to 14 years under Article 21A of the Indian constitution. This Act makes education as fundamental right of every child enforceable by law. The basic theme of free education implies that the children of prescribed age group shall be exempted from any fees, charges or expenses for pursuing elementary education. However, this free and compulsory elementary education is restricted to

*Principal, BLS Institute of Technology Management affiliated with G.G.S.I.P. University, Delhi.

education from class first to eighth only. The Act is having thirty seven sections which are part of seven chapters and one schedule.

The disheartening fact is however, that today more than eight million children, who should be in schools are still out of schools and are sweating in and out in farms and factories as child labourers, despite the enactment of much-hyped RTE Act. India has the second largest education system in the world after China. Indeed, over a third of population below 18 years constituting 19 percent of the worlds’ children resides in India. Every third illiterate person in the world is an Indian. The number of girls not attending schools in the 6-11 age group in 1995 was about 42 million; of every 10 illiterates, seven are women; 91 of every 100 women among the 70 million tribal cannot read or write. The situation has not improved much since then. There are problems relating to drop - out rate, low levels of learning achievement and low participation of girls, tribal’s and other disadvantaged groups. This Act provides 25% reservation of seats in all for, the poor children of disadvantaged economically weaker sections of the society in the schools, including in the private unaided schools in the neighborhood.

The experience however, shows that the RTE Act is not being implemented in all seriousness in letter and spirit. It is true that passage of this Act has been hailed as a historical moment in the crusade of universal literacy. The Act was also called “Harbinger of new era” by the Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Kapil Sibal and was welcomed by child rights organizations. RTE Act puts emphasis on quality education which has been considered as an integral part of right to education. Chapter V of the RTE Act enumerates some terms and norms under which the quality of elementary education is to be ensured, i.e. adequate teacher- student ratio (the 1:30 ratio specified in the Act) and further that mother tongue should be the medium of instruction as far as possible, development of various skills in child, good & effective infrastructure, qualified and competent teachers, and advanced evaluation methods etc. These can be achieved only when there is qualified and competent teaching staff always ready to accept challenges and ensure the quality education. The Indian experience with the right to education illustrates both the central issues that emerge in relation to resource constraints and the role played by the key stakeholders including the teachers.

The success of any legislation or Act lies in implementation. India is ranked at 108 as per literacy rate of the countries at the global level in 2010 and concerted efforts including creating awareness among teachers is required to make the RTE Act a reality. It is to be borne in mind that the government is required to spend an amount of Rs.2,04,000 crore over the next five years for implementation of this Act and If our teachers are not well informed on the basic provisions of this Act, it will remain a piece of paper. The Act has been put in to implementation with effect from 01.04.2010 and in order to find out the level of awareness among the teachers after more than one year of it being in operation, an attempt has been made through this research to find out the ground realities close to the national capital.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the present study are as follows:-

1. To find the difference in RTE awareness among male and female elementary teachers.

2. To compare the RTE awareness among the elementary teachers belonging to urban and rural areas.

3. To compare the RTE awareness among the elementary teachers belonging to Govt. and Non-Govt. Schools.

HYPOTHESIS

In the light of the objectives, the following Hypothesis was formulated.

There is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Male and Female Elementary Teachers.
There is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to urban and rural areas.
There is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to Govt. and Non- Govt. Schools.

METHODOLOGY

In the present study descriptive Survey Method was employed. It was designed to explore the RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers.

SAMPLE

The questionnaire was used on 160 Elementary School Teachers in NCR region who were selected by random sampling method. Among these Elementary Teachers, 80 were male and rests 80 were female. 80 elementary Teachers belongs to rural areas and other 80 Elementary Teachers belongs to the urban areas. 80 Elementary Teachers belongs to the Govt. Schools and other 80 Elementary Teachers belongs to the Non-Govt. Schools.

ELEMENTARY TEACHERS (160)

MALE TEACHERS (80) FEMALE TEACHERS (80)

RURAL AREA (40) URBAN AREA (40) RURAL AREA (40) URBAN AREA (40)

GOVT. NON-GOVT. GOVT. NON-GOVT. GOVT. NON-GOVT. GOVT. NON-GOVT.

(20) (20) (20) (20) (20) (20) (20) (20)

TOOLS

The tool for this study was a self- made questionnaire. It contained 20 multiple choice items related to RTE Awareness. The test was administered and the responses made by Elementary Teachers to test the RTE awareness were scored, tabulated and analyzed using appropriate statistical techniques.

ANALYSIS, RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Male and Female Elementary Teachers. Observation of Table 1 reveals that the ‘t’ Ratio is 1.88 which is not significant at 0.05 level. It means that Male and Female Elementary Teachers have equal awareness. Hence Null Hypothesis is accepted. It is therefore, concluded that there is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Male and Female Elementary Teachers.

Table 1:- Mean, S.D. and ‘t’- Ratio showing difference in RTE awareness among male and female Elementary Teachers.

Group	N	Mean	S.D.	Mean-Difference	‘t’- Ratio
Male	80	10.34	2.93	0.79	1.88
Female	80	9.55	2.41

Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to Urban and Rural areas. Observation of Table 2 reveals that the ‘t’ Ratio is 1.16 which is not significant at 0.05 level. It means that Elementary Teachers belonging to Urban and Rural areas have equal awareness. Hence Null Hypothesis is accepted. It is thus concluded that there is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to Urban and Rural areas.

Table 2:- Mean, S.D. and ‘t’- Ratio showing difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to Urban and Rural areas.

Group	N	Mean	S.D.	Mean-Difference	‘t’- Ratio
Urban	80	10.19	2.59	0.49	1.16
Rural	80	9.70	2.83

Hypothesis 3: There is no significant difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to Govt. and Non-Govt. Schools. Observation of Table 3 reveals that the ‘t’ Ratio is 4.9 which is significant at 0.05 level. It means that the null hypothesis “there exist a significant difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to Govt. and Non-Govt. Schools was rejected. Hence, it is concluded that the teachers belonging to Govt. Schools are more aware about the RTE in comparison with Non-Govt. Schools Teachers.

Table 3:- Mean, S.D. and t’- Ratio showing difference in RTE awareness among Elementary Teachers belonging to Govt. and Non-Govt. Schools.

Group	N	Mean	S.D.	Mean-Difference	‘t’- Ratio
Govt. Schools	80	10.92	2.99	1.96	4.9
Non-Govt. Schools	80	8.96	1.99

The total means score ‘9.94’ (49.7 %) shows that the overall RTE awareness is less than 50%. That means the teachers included in this study are less aware about the RTE (Right to Education). From above analysis we conclude that male awareness is 51.7 % and female Awareness is 47.75 %, the difference between them is not significant there for we can say that they are equally aware. Awareness among Teachers belonging to Urban Areas is 50.95 % and Rural Area is 48.5 % and the difference between this score is not significant therefore we can say that they are equally aware. But the awareness among Govt. School Teachers is 54.6 % and Non-Govt School Teachers is 44.8 %, the difference among them is significant which reveals that the Elementary Teachers from Govt. schools are much more aware about the RTE as compared to Elementary Teachers from Non-Govt. schools.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS:

To sum up, it can be stated that out of three hypotheses, the outcome of the last one is shocking. It is true that there is no significant difference on awareness between the teachers in urban and rural areas and in between the male and female teachers in Delhi and NCR region. However, while juxtaposing the same between the government school teachers and the teachers working in private/public schools, there is marked difference in awareness on the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The teachers working in the government schools are therefore, better informed but then the question is will it serve the mandate of the Act? It’s a cause of big anxiety and poses a challenge before the policy makers. The findings of this research reveal that about forty five percent of the teachers working in the private schools are not at all aware about the basic provisions of this Act including the age group and level/ classes covered therein of the students. Though the level of awareness in the teachers’ of government schools is comparatively more (54.6 %) but it is also not up to the mark. This is the situation in and around Delhi, even after more than one year of implementation of this Act. The possible reasons could be that the entire awareness campaigns (short term courses, seminars, workshops) launched by the government centered on the government schools and its teachers. It seems that no efforts whatsoever have been made by the government to create awareness among the teachers working in private schools. If the ground situation is such then the accountability of the same needs to be fixed. The owners of such schools should also be made responsible and accountable. The government needs to plan and organize one week/three days short term course/seminars/workshops together with sufficient resource material for the Elementary Teachers primarily serving in the private schools also together with their counter parts working in government schools across the country followed by the refresher courses/training programs. Such initiatives to create awareness among all elementary teachers will help in making the teachers informed, who will be able to give their best to achieve the goals of RTE to make it attainable and successful. In order to achieve the main objectives of the Act, this is very much required so that the problem could be nipped in the bud, otherwise despite spending the huge amount of money, the ground realities would remain the same.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ø The Gazette of India, August, 2009.

Ø Alston, Philip & Robinson, Mary, “Human Rights and Development: Towards Mutual Reinforcement, Oxford University Press, 2009.

Ø Bomzai, Kaveree, “Right to Education Hard Act to Follow”, India Today, 2010.

Ø Freebody, Peter, “Qualitative Research in Education”, Sage Publications, London, 2004.

Ø Friere, Paulo, “An invitation to conscientization and Deschooling”, The Politics of Education, Bergin & Garvey Publishers, Inc, Massachusetts, 1985.

Ø Koul, Lokesh, Methodology of Educational Research,Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 2004.

Ø Garrett, Henry E., Statistics in Psychology and Education, Surjeet Publications, 2006.

Ø Saroj & Kanchan, “Right to Education in India as a Fundamental Right”, National Seminar on 21^st January 2010 at BLSITM, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi.

Websites

www.wikipedia.org

www.actionaidindia.org

www.educationforallinindia.com

www.hrea.org/erc/lib/display

www.photius.com/rankings/population/literacy_total_2010_0.html