Problems of India's Elementary Education System and Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act–A Critical Appraisal

Probably nobody can deny the fact that country's educational system has been to a large extent a failure. One of the biggest problem is of uneven, unfair and inadequate provision of education. In order to solve these problems Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into effect on April 1, 2010 and hence started the contestation whether the act was really going to help the students to get their basic right of education and help in ridding the education system from longstanding barriers in the way to right to education or not? Present paper is an attempt to critically evaluate the act and tries to provide pros and cons of different provisions of the act. In doing this a brief historical context and basic framework of human rights approach to education is provided. It is argued that like many other acts the intentions of the act are noble, yet it is full of farcical, unworkable and contradictory provisions and there is a need for certain radical changes to ensure that children get their right to education in real sense. Furthermore the best option before the government to assure the right to education is to go for Common School System functioning through Neighbourhood Schools.