Discrimination of RTE Kids in Karnataka - An Analytical View

The recent incident in Karnataka which shocked the state and civil society of cutting of hair of poor students admitted under Right to Education (RTE) to differentiate them with other shows a deeper tension within the society.

Parents and Dalit groups protest Outside School - Pic by Imran Khan

The story of these students is not stories from margin and hence must not be read in obscurity. The private schools are opposing the idea of RTE and its implementation since long. KUSMA (Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association) an organization of private schools has been fiercely opposing the idea since its inception and has gone long in criticizing it. The president of KUSMA GS Sharma had to quit on July 18 following a row after he had stated that students getting into private schools under RTE were like sewage flowing into clean water body and polluting it.

In case of Oxford Public School an up market school and member of KUSMA, it has been alleged that the management of the school in order to differentiate students coming from economically backward and poor sections under RTE cut tufts of their hair. According to the parents of the children whose hair was cut, the school has been systematically discriminating them from the beginning and even to get the RTE form they had to resort to protest only then the management relented. In a class of 40 students of 1st standard at Oxford, eight children have been admitted under RTE.  `` they were made to sit at the last bench, their names were not included in the attendance registrar, no books was provided to them, they did not give them any homework and over it the teachers there used to check the tiffin boxes of our children – taunting them whether you have brought yesterday’s left over food since you are poor’’ says Geeta one of the Victim’s mother. 

The above incidents not only shocked the people of the state, but also sent seismic waves across the nation. What perturbed many was of the fact that such a thing could occur in Bangalore, one of the modern cities in India known for its cosmopolitan culture and IT hub and presumed to be a liberal and open place.  What shocked even more was a deeper tension exhibited in subject matter like education which was meant to bridge gaps within classes and communities.  Even though it has been more than 60 years since independence, the recent events have shown that the gap has not been bridged, rather in a neo liberal set up where governments are getting rid of ‘ welfare schemes’ and handing them over to private players, education as new found ‘commodity’ has certainly become a major bone of contention. Even in fields like water and mid day meals too, the Karnataka government has been more than enthusiastic in handing over to private players.  While n certain districts the state government has handed over the supply of drinking water to Tata and sons ( it wants to emulate the model to the entire state), the supply of nutrients in mid day meals is slowly being handed over to the mining giant Vedanta. 

The recent RTE row in the state and resistance that followed certainly exposes the design discrimination on the part of the state. The learning is that even if laws like RTE are passed, governments are least bothered to implement it with iron fist. The KUSMA body when refused to implement the scheme, and went on a week long strike, the state government which was well within the RTE law to take action against the body chose to overlook it.

On one hand the government has dilapidated its schools both in terms of infrastructure and teaching; leading to primary education becoming a tough job for the large section of the society. On the other hand, it has privatized the higher education at large. Recently in Karnataka, the BJP ruled government was on a drive in closing down schools that had fewer students; rather than resolving why the turnout is less.  Though, the government had plans to shut down more than 3000 schools, opposition from civil society forced them to bring the number down to 600. 

On the other hand, the schools run by private players who want to profit from the education business (hence RTE is not a good business) the clear indication sent by them is no entry for those who cant afford ‘quality education’. 

As Nayaz Pasha, an auto driver and father of the child Madeen Kausar (6 years) whose daughter’s hair was allegedly snipped by the Oxford management says, I was thrilled when I heard that through RTE even my daughter could afford a quality education. But looking at recent incidents, I am scarred to send my daughter; we may opt for government school now’’.

Karnataka boasts of getting nearly 45,000 students admitted under the RTE quota this year. But almost every second home that saw the RTE at play talks of some subtle discrimination, elitism or harassment. As RTE activist Yasir Mohammed points out, he spent more than two months convincing parents to send their children to private school, whereas convincing schools was next to impossible. Yasir says he approached nearly 18 schools to implement the RTE act, apart from 3-4 schools; the rest gave a cold shoulder. `` They did not entertain us, some even called the police’’ says he. 

RTE Kid whose hair was cut by Oxford Management School to separate Him from other Kids

Karnataka has a deep rooted sense of caste and the politics as such is here strictly caste driven, hence a duet of privatization and caste assertion goes hand in hand in the state. The caste root of the state certainly bring the fruit of discrimination may it be incident of cutting hair to differentiate or forcing lower class people to roll on the left over foods in temple or like in Mangalore, the Hindutva hot bed, where girl students wearing burkha are banned from coming to colleges. 

Take the case of upper limit of income in RTE act in Karnataka. Among Southern States, Karnataka has the highest upper limit for students to be admitted under the RTE quota. With the upper limit income of Rs. 3.5 lakh it beats even Tamil Nadu where it is Rs. 2 Lakh. In kerala only BPL card holders are eligible for RTE quota. This is certainly a critical point and consequently the deserving and deprived class will not get the fruit of this law. This is also argued that the government officials and employees will get the benefit of RTE and upper limit liberty.

The Oxford School management after two days of protest tendered an apology to all. However, the correspondent of the school, Ajith Prabhu clarified that there were hair cut of other students other than RTE children too, and it was done by a student of the first standard in the crafts class; while the teacher was busy drawing on the board. He also said that, there was no discrimination on the part of the school.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) however has asked the government to clarify on this issue. Taking cognizance, secretary of Karnataka primary and secondary education G Kumar Naik informed press that, they have initiated an inquiry and sought a report from zonal officers. However, even before the committee could inquire into the incident and bring out its report, minister for primary and secondary education Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has cast aspersions on the dalit organisation ( Karnataka Dalit Samrajya Samiti) who helped in bringing out this issue. The minister on record has said that, the whole incident was created by the organization which had some problems with the management.

Box:

According to the District Information System for Education (DISE) data for 2011-12, the total number of government lower and higher primary schools (LPS and HPS) in Bangalore North is 511 and Bangalore South 891. The enrolment for Class 1 in government schools in these two divisions stands at 9,728 and 16,707, respectively, as on September 2011.

In contrast, the number of unaided private LPS and HPS schools in Bangalore North is 937 and 1,377 in Bangalore South. Class 1 enrolment in unaided schools in these two divisions, according to DISE figures, stand at 43,045 and 65,774.

If 25 per cent reservation is observed strictly in all unaided schools, the number of those currently going to government schools can be absorbed by the unaided schools over the next few years leaving the question of what will happen to the government schools then.