RTE Admission 2014 - 2015 Awareness Details

RTE Admission 2014 - 2015 Awareness Details

WITH the passage of Right of Children io Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (RTE Act), it was expected that the situation among the marginalized children, so far as education is concerned, will change drastically. Academicians including a large number of teachers and school managements were skeptical about its implementation.

Although the process of bringing about the change is very slow, the attitude of the school managements, approach of teachers. awareness among targeted children and their families, needs careful scrutiny.

Majority of parents of the marginalised children being illiterate, fail to understand importance of the facility offered to them under the Act. They even are reluctant to approach the schools, talk to the teachers to get the information and fail to motivate their children to make the opportunity.

A study was conducted by By Dr Naveenchandran Bhat of Matru Sewa Sangh Institute of Social Work on the issue. He held discussion with heads of the schools, teachers and parents as a part of his study.

It was found that school administrations are not trained to identify and screen needy students. Those who seek admission are not interested in studies, necessary' seriousness in studies is not shown by them, they are not attentive in classes. They are not accustomed to the school atmosphere and flee away as and when they get opportunity.

Parents lack interest in studies of their wards. They shy away from meetings with teachers, who arc willing to help out the students. The teachers are required to spend more time and face difficulties in convincing these students. As these students fail to match intellectually with other students, they often become target by oilier students. For want of determination, these students arc demo-tivated in schools, which strive to maintain high standards. The results are adversely affected, which is a major concern for the school management.

The teachers face difficulty in handling such students, as they are usually reluctant in completing home work, taking active part in curricular and extra-curricular activities, are not attentive in classes, show least interest in counselling by the teachers.

Dr Navinchandran's study has made it clear that the School Social Work, which is an important branch in social work studies, has remained neglected. The specialisation needs to be revived and trained social workers should be placed in schools for handling such cases. The regular teachers have not been trained to deal with marginalised students admitted under RTF Act. They are overburdened with the work of counseling these students. Trained social workers are equipped with methods to convince such students, which has been adequately proved in the past.

Although the study was limited to Nagpur city, that too for a limited number of schools selected randomly. detailed study is required to make RTE more effective.