Scrap the Right to Education Act (RTE)

The Right to Education Act comes when there is no issue of enrollment but huge drop-out ratio. What it makes mockery of school education in this chaotic democracy is for the private schools and that is too by law!! Read the article and ponder what else more one need for scraping this RTE!!

Some excerpts:

• It is said that one of most damaging virtues of George W Bush was his steadiness; he believed the same thing on Wednesday that he believed on Monday - no matter what happened on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the well-meaning or self-interested people - these are the only two kinds pushing for swifter implementation of the Right to Education Act (RTE) - seem to share this dangerous steadiness despite new information. 

• As a company at the exit gate of the education system - we have hired somebody every five minutes for five years but only 5% of the kids who came to us for a job - we see and suffer the tragic consequences of India's education emergency. True impact in public policy – unlike election campaigns - does not lie in poetry but in plumbing.  

• RTE makes it impossible for education entrepreneurs to compete on price since many states propose to regulate fees and uncertainty has paused the Cambrian explosion of energy in school entrepreneurship. This means lower capacity and lower competition. And that means schools don't have clients, but hostages. 

• Third as enrolment ratios cross 100% it fights yesterday's war of quantity and fails to focus on quality and learning outcomes. We don't need more cooks in the kitchen but a different recipe. RTE not only fails this test but poisons the ecosystem by sabotaging other ways to get India educated.