This article brought to mind a conversation we had with Sec. Sabitha concerning our work with the RTE: "You should consider yourselves lucky to be doing this work in Tamil Nadu. We have the best track record and admit more kids than any other state. Last year we admitted __(some figure in the tens of thousands)___".
We left that conversation not only dejected, but confused--thousands? How? We struggled to admit a mere 11. Where were these thousands of families with awareness of the law, and where were these schools who welcomed them with open arms? In our experience, no neighborhood knew of the law, nor did a single school wish to admit them without being thoroughly apprised of the law.
Ultimately, we came to the same conclusion as the article, which is that something was rotten in Denmark.
A RTI submitted by one education activist and published in a Dec 10th article by the Times of India answered our confusion. It illustrates that the Tamil Nadu Dept of Education artificially inflated its RTE figures--instead of 89,000 students receiving seats, the figure is closer to 2,959.
The number of seats given in Chennai? Just 112, states the RTI.
We had personally witnessed the issuance of roughly 40 seats across three schools. Given our very small sample, we may assume that the number might be larger than the 112 reported. At no point are we naive enough to believe the official figures, however, which report the submission of over thousands of seats.
From our experience, the lack of auditing regarding seats is appalling. When a school claims it has administered seats to underprivileged children, no education official actually checks. Every school gets a mere rubber stamp (and perhaps a payment to the official, depending on the situation). Given that there is no incentive to prevent a school from artificially inflating its numbers for compliance--quite the opposite, as both the school and govt get money for each seat--this system is unlikely to change.
I do not suggest that schools are automatically putting fake names to give the appearance of propriety. Are some schools guilty of this conduct? Absolutely. But the situation of artificially high numbers is by far a government problem, as highlighted by the article. The thought of centralized funding trickling its way into state coffers is too much to resist--ergo, 89,000 seats. So long as the government can falsify the numbers, they will. Unless and until more stringent auditing occurs to ensure that 1) such children on the roles exist 2) the children are in fact legitimate RTE candidates, little will change.
What saddens me is that our work is already hindered by the State and Central government's refusal to pay schools for admitted children. We have little to say when a school official cries in frustration, "we can't afford to give seats for free, and the government will never pay us." Reimbursement must be a priority. Given the inflated numbers, however, I as a tax payer cannot support a system so deeply mired in corruption and deception.
The article may be found here.
We left that conversation not only dejected, but confused--thousands? How? We struggled to admit a mere 11. Where were these thousands of families with awareness of the law, and where were these schools who welcomed them with open arms? In our experience, no neighborhood knew of the law, nor did a single school wish to admit them without being thoroughly apprised of the law.
Ultimately, we came to the same conclusion as the article, which is that something was rotten in Denmark.
A RTI submitted by one education activist and published in a Dec 10th article by the Times of India answered our confusion. It illustrates that the Tamil Nadu Dept of Education artificially inflated its RTE figures--instead of 89,000 students receiving seats, the figure is closer to 2,959.
The number of seats given in Chennai? Just 112, states the RTI.
We had personally witnessed the issuance of roughly 40 seats across three schools. Given our very small sample, we may assume that the number might be larger than the 112 reported. At no point are we naive enough to believe the official figures, however, which report the submission of over thousands of seats.
From our experience, the lack of auditing regarding seats is appalling. When a school claims it has administered seats to underprivileged children, no education official actually checks. Every school gets a mere rubber stamp (and perhaps a payment to the official, depending on the situation). Given that there is no incentive to prevent a school from artificially inflating its numbers for compliance--quite the opposite, as both the school and govt get money for each seat--this system is unlikely to change.
I do not suggest that schools are automatically putting fake names to give the appearance of propriety. Are some schools guilty of this conduct? Absolutely. But the situation of artificially high numbers is by far a government problem, as highlighted by the article. The thought of centralized funding trickling its way into state coffers is too much to resist--ergo, 89,000 seats. So long as the government can falsify the numbers, they will. Unless and until more stringent auditing occurs to ensure that 1) such children on the roles exist 2) the children are in fact legitimate RTE candidates, little will change.
What saddens me is that our work is already hindered by the State and Central government's refusal to pay schools for admitted children. We have little to say when a school official cries in frustration, "we can't afford to give seats for free, and the government will never pay us." Reimbursement must be a priority. Given the inflated numbers, however, I as a tax payer cannot support a system so deeply mired in corruption and deception.
The article may be found here.
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