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In 2009, India passed a law guaranteeing every child a free education. A UNICEF campaign uses online tools to inform the public about the law and encourage ordinary citizens to support education – and help make the law a reality.

By Paromita Pain

An estimated 8 million children in India do not attend school. The reasons behind the great disparity in education are varied and complex. They include a lack of schools, lack of teachers, pressure on children to earn money rather than attend school and certain cultural taboos that prevent children from going to school.

Despite these hurdles, the Indian government is taking steps toward meeting the goal of free education for all of the nation’s children. This year landmark legislation took effect, the Right to Education Act (RTE), passed in 2009 by parliament. The law guarantees all children 6 to 14 years old the right to free and quality education, provided by the government. UNICEF is lending its support with a new campaign that spreads information about the law and encourages citizens to get involved.

Launched on October 18, 2010, the campaign, called Awaaz Do (“Speak Up” in Hindi), urges Indians to speak up for the education rights of impoverished children. They aim to sign up at least 500,000 people to their campaign by Jan 24, 2011, designated by the United Nations as Girl Child Day. A simple rationale underlies the campaign: the more people talk about RTE, the better the chance that, someday, all Indian children will receive an education.

“UNICEF is working with the Government of India to outline a roadmap for implementing RTE at the national and state level. However, the success of this act is also largely dependent on collective action,” said Urmila Sarkar, UNICEF’s Chief of Education. “The Awaaz Do campaign is a platform for the combined voices of the government, the corporate world, the media and individuals to become an undeniable force to ensure every child is in school.”

Setting a Lofty Goal for India

The RTE Act is considered an historic law. It specifies minimum norms in government schools regarding the quality of the facilities and the teachers. In a bold move, it requires all private schools to reserve 25 percent of their seats for children from poor families (to be reimbursed by the state as part of a public-private partnership plan).

Most schools in Delhi are open to the provisions of the act and are encouraging its implementation. But some schools remain cautious. Experts in the field of education say that this campaign is a welcome move to address doubts and create a wider acceptance of the law.

“Confusion still prevails about many of its sections,” says Ruma Ghosh, a teacher in Calcutta school, who is also an RTE activist. “Many parents don’t know what secondary costs are covered and what falls outside the purview. Thanks to this campaign, the RTE is back in the news with more people debating its merits and demerits. This will hopefully help spread information to those this act is aimed at.”

Obstacles: Attitudes and Resources

Among the many obstacles preventing India from sending all children to school is the availability of facilities. India’s leading advocate for child rights, CRY (Child Rights and You), estimates that 47 percent of dwellings don’t have a primary school nearby. A study by CRY revealed that an important reason for girls dropping out of middle school in many rural areas was the lack of separate toilets for girls.

In some regions, poverty and cultural taboos remain the biggest barriers to children not going to school or dropping out. Most adolescent girl children, especially in the deep rural interiors of the country, aren’t sent to school because their parents believe it will spoil their chances of marriage. Education in these regions is seen as something that makes women stubborn and turns their attention away from the home and hearth.

From Online to On-the-Ground Action

The campaign is active on Twitter and Facebook. Visitors to the website are encouraged to send a free SMS text message to friends promoting the campaign. The campaign presents videos on YouTube to promote the cause of education. A short film by 11-year-old Sonu Thakur from West Bengal, The Classroom, won a UNICEF contest. Another video highlights programs already in place to promote education. “Bringing Child Labourers Back to School”, showcases the various Residential Bridge Centres that help former child labourers enter the mainstream school system are also being used.

Once it has the attention of people online, there’s an action plan to help the ordinary person take the campaign offline. Citizens are encouraged to visit a local school and report on the conditions through the site “School Report Cards”. Each visitor is asked to check on whether the school has the following: separate toilets for boys and girls, drinking water, places for students to wash their hands with soap, playgrounds for sports and having fun, a library for students and their teachers and midday meals for children. The action plan encourages discussions with the school head, teachers, community members and even the parents of children enrolled there about the RTE Act.

Building a Movement

“As children we remember selling cards made by the UNICEF to raise money for educating children. We are no strangers to the work UNICEF does. For me, personally, this campaign is a great way to participate in something that concerns the entire country. I now have a platform to put forth my views on the subject as well as take action,” said Ashmit Jayakumar, a recent law graduate from Chennai who signed up the minute he read about Awaaz Do in a daily newspaper.

Awaaz Do hopes people like Jayakumar will be part of a citizen’s movement for education. By informing the public about India’s education challenges as well as the country’s promise to educate all children, the organizers aim to build support for policies and funding to improve access to quality education. The organizers hope the online campaign helps make education and those too poor to access it a matter of national conscience, not just an issue for government agencies.

“India is home to a growing urban population that can be mobilized into demanding that the goals set forth in RTE become reality,” said UNICEF India Representative Karin Hulshof. “We must continue the momentum to achieve this objective and the middle class, as well as the media, can help raise their voices to keep RTE firmly in the national spotlight.”

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Paromita Pain has been employed with The Hindu Newspaper, Chennai, India since January 2003. She writes for young people on a range of themes. She can be reached at paromita.pain@gmail.com.

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