RTE Implementation in Abeyance

 Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh continue to lag in implementing the Right to Education Act (RTE), despite its enactment five years back. Even basic requirements for the implementation of the Act have not been met by the two states during the past five years. When the state was not bifurcated, several teacher unions, education activists and student unions approached the state authorities to implement RTE, but they could not achieve any breakthrough.

The Act was intended at providing education to school drop-outs, students from poor families including SC, ST, minorities and other backward communities. As per the norms of the Act all the state governments were mandated to provide basic education to the children aged between 5 to 14 years. The law also mandated the private managements to allot 25 per cent of the seats for poor students.

Interestingly, the deadline for the proper implementation of the Act was March 31, 2015, in the moral book of the Act in the year 2010 when the RTE was enacted. However, so far the implementation of this Act is on the backburner in many aspects. Accordin to Right to Education Forum’s state convener Ch Murali Mohan, a survey conducted by the forum revealed that percentage of RTE implementation in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is only 9 per cent. 

He said, “It is disgusting for both the states that such a meager per cent of implementation is recorded.” He said that as per the analysis of 2011 census analysis by the UNICEF, it was revealed that Hyderabad had highest number of child labors in the state. City has 80,000, Ranga Reddy district has 75,000 and Mahabubnagar district has about 68,000 child labours, he said. He criticised the Telangana government for not giving any importance to such an important act and said that one can file PIL against the state as the RTE was a mandatory compulsion on the state governments.

Telangana government instead, has been talking about KG to PG scheme for education but allocated only Rs 25 crores in the previous and current state budget, he said. Interestingly, the previous united AP governments have stonewalled the implementation by showing the deadline of March 31, 2015 and now Telangana government shirking its responsibility by saying that it does not have data and was new into the power.

It was learnt that the Telangana government had sought six months’ time from the Centre to implement the Act completely but there was no communication from the Centre has been reported in this regard.
He said Telangana government appeared to be not keen on this issue and argued that the number of teachers was more than students and needed rationalisation. 

PRTU president P Venkat Reddy said that the Telangana government utterly failed in the implementation of RTE in many aspects. The state government was failed especially in curbing the corrupt practices of collecting huge amounts as donation and capitation fees by private education institutions.

Facts and Figures
1.Right to Education Act was approved in Lok Sabha on July 2, 2009.
2.It was passed in Rajya Sabha on July 20, 2009.
3.It came into force from April 1, 2010.
4.RTE has completed its five years on April 1, 2015.
5.Moral book of act says that all the states would be having appropriate framework to implement RTE by March 31, 2015.
6.Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states lag behind in implementation with only 9 per cent.
7.A survey was done in 20 states with 50 government schools in each state shows that implementation of act was thrown to the winds.

Encountering these people would be justified!

Muslim community elders have demand state government and police officials to take serious action against people indulging in facilitating contract marriages of poor girls from Old City with foreign nationals. The religious leaders have also condemned the rising number of such marriages in the city and held the constitutional agencies responsible for such incidents. 

The recent incident, in which an Omani national went into contract marriage with a minor girl in the city, was facilitated by a local Qazi and travel agent. Generally, these agents lure foreign nationals by offering brides from poor families that too for a certain period and earn huge money from them. The agents also convince the poor parents by promising them huge remuneration before performing ‘Nikah’ for avoiding legal glitches.

Lack of check on such marriages is leading to contract marriages, thus exploitation of the young and poor girls in the city. Tameer-e-Millat Secretary Maulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi said that the root cause of these incidents was greed for quick money. He said that the government should take pro-active role in curbing the activities of middlemen and Qazis who perform such marriages. He lamented, “the middlemen and irresponsible Qazis are responsible for exploitation of poor families in the name of marriages.” 

They have made the institution of marriage a joke and tool of exploitation. It is a matter of serious concern that despite of strict laws people who facilitate go undetected, he added. In the past, people from West Asian countries used to marry women from Hyderabad and provided them a graceful life in their respective countries. However, for past ten to fifteen years it has been seen that marriages of city women have become a mere ‘business deal’ he observed.

As per the existing laws, foreign nationals marrying local women must inform the government authorities and possess permission from their respective governments. Since they do not possess any document, they prefer to contact middlemen for ‘contract marriages’. Noted Islamic scholar Mufti Sadiq Mohiuddin observed that such incidents of exploitation were occurring frequently due to lack of proper implementation of laws that have been formulated to keep a check on such marriages.

He said, “Laws and regulations must be implemented strictly and then only we can expect to save people from being exploited by opportunists in the community.” He advised the community members not to fall prey to the allurements of middlemen.On the other hand police officials say that they have taken all possible steps to stop these kinds of incidents in the city. 

DCP South Zone V Satyanarayana said that police officials have even booked Qazis under the PD Act and opened history sheets, but in vain. He however said, “There has been a fear among middlemen and people indulging in fake marriage. The menace has not been completely controlled. Educating poor families and young girls is the need of the hour.”

Chancellors for Each University

The State government is mulling several amendments to the State Universities Act in order to work on its proposals of appointing chancellors for each university in the State. The government wanted to streamline the functioning of all the State universities and strengthen the academic activities carried out in each university. Currently, the State governor is acting as the chancellor for all the universities as per the provisions of State Universities Act. 

According to government officials, senior academicians, professors and experts in education would be appointed as chancellors of the varsities. The government wanted to streamline the functioning of all the State universities and strengthen the academic activities carried out in each university

Universities with Chancellors
-Kaloji Narayan Rao Health University – Chief Minister is Chancellor
-Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technology (RGUKT) - Raji Reddy is Chancellor
-Nalsar Law University- Chief Justice of High Court Kalyanjyoti Sengupta is Chancellor

Universities without VCs
-Osmania University – Hyderabad
-Kakatiya University -Warangal
-JNTU- Hyderabad
-Dr B R A O U- Hyderabad
-Palamur University-Mahabubnagar
-Telangana University-Nizamabad
-Prof Jayashankar Agricultural University

Universities having VC
-Mahatma Gandhi University -Nalgonda
-Satavahana University-Karimnagar

The Chief Minister is the chancellor of Kaloji Narayan Rao Health University, the chief justice of High Court is chancellor for Nalsar Law University and academician A Raji Reddy is the chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technology (RGUKT). According to officials, senior academicians, professors and experts in education would be appointed as chan cellors of the varsities. 

The government was acting on the reports submitted by officials that almost all the universities in the State were reeling under several crises which includes academic disturbances, groupism among faculty members and students, flutters created by student groups and other issues. Telangana Higher Education Council vice chairman S Mallesham said that the issue was at a preliminary stage, and no direction has been issued by the government. 

However, he said that other states in the country have separate chancellors for state universities. He said, “In Telangana, few universities have chancellors and this is not a surprise. Efforts are underway to appoint vice-chancellors for universities in existing vacancies.” The government is keen on appointing chancellors, an advisory post with five years fixed tenure.

Private Travel Agencies Exploit Haj Pilgrims

 Private travel agencies in Hyderabad are fleecing Haj aspirants every year in lakhs by taking advantage of the large number of seats allocated to them by the central government. The dream of luxurious travel and completion of Haj by private travel agencies is gradually turning in to a nightmare for pilgrims, who have chosen their services over the government-supported Haj facilities through the Haj committee.

“Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj.”

In most of the instances, proper facilities are not provided to pilgrims as promised before leaving for Haj, and are left to fend for themselves in the foreign country despite paying huge money. The private agencies attract these aspirants with ‘beautiful’ promises and under different categories like deluxe, super deluxe and so on. Private agencies are charging about Rs 3 to 4 lakh from each pilgrim and in some cases the charges are as high as Rs 4.5 lakh for each pilgrim.

On the contrary, the charges for pilgrims who go for Haj through the state Haj Committee remains is between Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.80 lakh for similar arrangements and facilities. One of the victims of private tour operators is the Officer on Special Duty Elections Faheem Saberi who went for Haj last year with his spouse. Explaining his ordeal, he said that they paid Rs 3.5 lakh per head for Haj, but whatever promised to him was not provided.

He said, “Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj. We were forced to live in a congested hotel room in a 14-storey building with only two lifts.” Declining to reveal the name of the tour operator he said that he has written a complaint letter to the Ministry of External Affairs to look into this matter and come to the rescue of people who are being exploited.

He said, “It is the right time that the central government decreases the quota for private agencies and increases the pilgrims’ quota to the state Haj committees in the country.” The central government has allocated 40,000 slots for pilgrims to the private travel agencies across the country and agencies of the state bagged around 2,300 slots this year. On the other hand, the state haj committee was allotted 2,700 slots out of which only 1,223 seats were left open for draw this year. The remaining seats come under reserved categories. 

About 15,000 people have applied for the mere 1,223 slots for Haj 2015 and 12 persons are vying for each seat. Another victim of the private travel agencies Mumtaz Ahmed a retail businessman said that it was his worst decision to go for Haj by a private agency last year. He claimed to have paid Rs 4 lakh for Haj and expected luxurious arrangements by the agency. He said, “The facilities provided by the private agency were not even close to the facilities provided by the Haj Committee of the state.”

Charges under Private Agencies
-Private Agencies charge Rs 3.5 to Rs 5 lakh per head
-Poor facilities and don’t keep the promises
-Take the pilgrims by cheap airlines as against the promised one of Saudi Airlines
-Promise food but don’t provide proper food at right time
-Pilgrims are left in lurch during Haj rituals

Requirement for the Travel
Agency license
-Labor License issued by state government/municipal authorities
-Trade License issued by municipal body
-At least three years’ experience in Haj pilgrims’ service
-Should have turnover of Rs 1 crore per annum in air travel service
-Should deposit Rs 25 lakh in the Ministry of External Affairs
-Trained staff

Rationalization of Schools in Telangana

The State government has decided to modify GO No.6 intended to ‘rationalise’ government schools across the State from the next academic year, though certain unions of teachers had expressed apprehensions that schools having poor student strength would be eventually closed down. The GO No 6, released in September 2014, was kept in abeyance, following protests by teachers unions. 

The State government has since decided to introduce some changes in the instructions given under the GO No 6, before going ahead with the rationalisation plan. The earlier instructions laid down benchmarks for allowing government-run primary and high schools to function. It was decided that high schools with less than 75 students and primary schools with less than 20 students should be closed down and such students sent to other nearby school.

Inspections in the previous year revealed that about 300 high schools and 2,000 primary schools would come under the axe, going by the parameters set by the State government. However, after fierce opposition from teachers’ unions, the State government stepped back on this issue earlier. The issue of rationalisation of schools and teachers is again under discussion as the demand for DSC has been increasing for some time now. Director and Commissioner of School Education T Chiranjeevulu said that currently the GO was not being implemented.

However, it could come into force with some changes after the current academic year. He declined to speak on the changes that would be made to rules under the GO No 6. The Telangana Teachers Joint Action Committee (TTJAC) has alleged that the State government wanted to shut down State-run schools in the name of ‘rationalisation’. The TTJAC chairman, P Venkat Reddy, said that the government should instead increase facilities for rural students so that they could reach the school. 

The government should see how many private schools were being run in the same locality or village. “The government should rationalise private schools before preparing to close government schools. Each village must have a public school,” he said. He said that the fall in the number of students at government schools did not happen overnight, but over a period of time because of the official apathy and neglect by successive governments.

Representatives of teacher unions also argue that shutting down any government school was against the Right to Education Act (RTE) and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Negligent EFLU Management

Students are seething in anger against the authorities of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) which has seldom been on time in conducting entrance examinations. Their omissions and commissions have put the students seeking admissions into different courses at the receiving end. The EFLU administration failed to conduct the entrance examinations as per the notified scheduled. 

Students paying high price for lapses

The changes effected in the schedule often without following the due procedures had cost the opportunity of the students to pursue higher studies. The schedule given in the hall tickets could not be honoured in respect of the entrance exam for different courses during past two years. Adding further more to the travails of the students, they were given wrong question papers. Even the timing of the entrance examinations were also mentioned wrongly in the question papers. 

There was often a mismatch between the courses for which entrance examinations held and the timings mentioned on the hall tickets. This happened in the case of MA MCJ examination. Those students who failed to turn up were not allowed to appear again for the examination.
Telangana Students Association (TSA) activists said that in one case the authorities have given question paper of previous year and realized their mistake after lapse of one hour. 

Later the management announced that the examination for the same paper would be conducted on next day. But the students coming from Kerala and Bangalore did not attend it as they have already reserved the return tickets to return to their home towns.

Sweeping Changes in Teacher Education

 The curriculum of the Education studies in the state is all set to undergo major changes from the next academic year as the duration of the Bachelor of Education (B Ed) course would be raised to two years and other changes would also be introduced. 

These changes have been under consideration for a long time after National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has formed the guidelines. The council was also contemplating to change the structure of syllabus and inclusions of more topics in the teacher education studies.

Major changes include the enhancement of course duration from one year to two years and alterations in examination pattern. As per the decisions taken by the School Education Department, the examination papers for the Education Studies (B Ed) in the next academic year would be 12 unlike 6 in the pat.

At the same time the duration of internship or Teaching Practice would be for 20 weeks (6 months) instead of 8 weeks (two months). Higher Education Council Chairman T Papi Reddy said that Centre was contemplating these changes for a long time and National Council for Teacher Education has already informed the changes. 

He said that changes were being introduced to strengthen the teacher education. He said that if a teacher has been trained well, he/she can educate the students in a better way. He said that notification for B Ed would be released soon and entrance examination would be conducted in June this year. These changes also come with some other strict norms for students. They would be asked to complete B Ed within three years from the date of admission. Internship or practical teaching session would include interaction with students and with community, skill development and communication development. 

The teacher training period would conclude with the presentation of papers by the candidates. On the other hand the examinations would be conducted semester wise and the number of papers would be 12 for two years.