Rajasthan government has decided
to absorb about 10,000 teachers and non-academic staff of aided educational
institutions (schools and colleges) into the State-run schools and colleges in
Rajasthan. They will be given an option for joining a newly created rural
education service cadre. To facilitate absorption, the Rajasthan
Voluntary Rural Education Service Rules, 2010, and Section-7 of the
Rajasthan Non-government Educational Institutions Act, 1989 have been suitably amended
(Rajasthan Government, Department of Personnel, Notification dated 29-11-2010).
It is to be noted that the State Government proposes to stop all grants to all aided
educational institutions after the scheme's implementation. Thereafter, the
private schools and colleges will be free to recruit new teachers on their own
terms. There will be, therefore, no private aided educational institutions in
the state.
As reported by Hindu, the teachers and other staff of these institutions
have welcomed this policy decision of the state government, some apprehensions
regarding some service rules and rules about promotions not withstanding. It is
to be noted that the teachers and employees absorbed into the government
service would never be allowed to serve in the urban areas in future and would
not be given any benefit for their previous years' service in terms of
experience for promotions and increment-related payments. It is not easy to
understand why the teaching staff is welcoming this decision. The teachers of
the aided institutions are, at present, getting the same pay and pay scales as
the teachers in government institutions. To make it sure that they get the full
pay, payments are made through cheques. When they are absorbed in government
institutions they will be placed in remote, mostly rural areas, will loose
their seniority, and face frequent transfers. The only reason they are
welcoming this decision seems to be the policy of the state government towards
aided institutions in the recent past whereby the government has been reducing grants
and delaying payments. The teaching community has accepted the stoppage of aids
to these institutions as fait accompli. They
know that after the stoppage of government aid to these institutions, it will
be well nigh impossible for these institutions to continue paying them the same
emoluments and facilities. These institutions may even be forced to close down
or transform themselves into profit making exclusive ones. Their service
conditions will change. The employees have, therefore, no choice except to accept
the government scheme of absorption.
In fact, the state government is shrewd enough in
accomplishing three tasks simultaneously: The policy will please the employees
of these institutions who are scared of the prospects of unemployment at present
or in future. They will also be assured of full pay and allowances in future.
The government will simultaneously save funds, since these transferred teachers
will fill-in thousands of vacancies in schools and colleges without any extra
cost to the exchequer, their salary was already financed almost entirely by the
state government. Moreover, the government would be free from the obligation of
financially supporting any philanthropic effort coming from the public in
future. However, it will kill the old and time tested real public partnership
(PPP) model which will be replaced by the government corporate partnership for
profit (GCPP) model. As this step of Rajasthan government amply shows, the
state government has resolved to disband the real PPP model of aided
institutions which aimed at encouraging philanthropy and a sense of social
responsibility in public at large. Voluntary contributions to the education
sector have no place of honour in the new GCPP. It is a retrograde policy. It
abandons encouragement of philanthropy and community participation and
involvement by supporting the effort with government funds, guidance and
regulation in favour of a profit oriented system of education which would accentuate and perpetuate class differences.
This should be seen as
part of the state policy of privatization and commercialization of education
under the mask of PPP as propounded in the Eleventh Plan and the Right to
education Act. Under this scheme, government would be encouraging establishment
of model schools by corporate as well as non-profit bodies (NGOs). Corporate
bodies with a stipulated minimum net worth of Rs.25 crore are required to
deposit an interest bearing deposit of Rs.50 lakh for the first three schools
and Rs 25 lakh thereafter with the government for the each school they propose
to set up. Non-profit bodies with prior experience in education need to deposit
Rs.25 lakh for each school (Report of the Sub-group of the Round Table on
School Education, May 25, 2010). The schools will be required to have the
required infrastructure. The institutions may get access to relevant funds from
the Centre and the State governments under different schemes. These model
schools in private NGO or corporate sector will be required to admit a
stipulated minimum number of students from weaker sections for which they would
be refinanced according a set formula.
Under the right to
education Act too, all schools will be required to admit needy children up to extent
of 25 per cent of total enrolment. Their fees will be reimbursed by government
in accordance with another formula. This is sort of a voucher system. This
scheme cannot be termed as a PPP policy. In reality, high degree of
commercialization will be encouraged by public (government) policy and funds. The
schools will enjoy unlimited freedom in respect to the fees charged from the
non-quota (75% of total seats) students as also all other aspects of governance
management of the school. This is privatization and commercialization of school
education utilizing government funds.
In fact, the scheme also sidelines
small scale private initiative in education. It is in everybody’s knowledge
that in several urban, semi-urban areas and even villages, there are small
scale educational entrepreneurs, operating schools in rented rooms and
apartments and imparting education to the wards of lower middle and labour
class families charging relatively low fees. Of course, they also, pay low
salaries to the teachers. Mostly, educated married or unmarried girls living in
the neighbourhood of the school and not willing to migrate to outstation places
offer their services to these schools at rather low salary. As a World Bank
study (Tahir Andrabi,
Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja (2008); A Dime a Day, The Possibilities and
Limits of Private Schooling in Pakistan, WPS4066) testifies,
these schools have traditionally played significant role in spreading literacy
and education in the unserved areas and to the uncovered sections of population
at low cost. And their education level is better than most of the state
government schools. In contrast to the so called public (exclusive) schools, the
students also feel at home in these schools. The small-scale entrepreneurs also
do not aim at super profits, they in fact, earn modest income, sort of a salary,
for managing the show. In contrast, the wards of educationally, socially and
economically backward families who will be forced upon the corporate schools (to
call them public schools is a great joke) will neither be assimilated by these
schools nor will they feel at home in the alien atmosphere (See , Implementing
Right To Education Act, Mainstream, Vol xlviii, No 10, February
27, 2010). The huge funds transferred to these corporate schools will not help
in any way spreading education to the uncovered sections.
The policy is bound to fail in achieving the goal
of universal elementary and ultimately secondary education. Already, the
corporate school groups are opposing the imposition of the 25 per cent
compulsion. If they are compelled to implement the RTI Act, how will they
proceed to do it? Will they open separate sections for these students with separate
staff and Hindi or regional language as medium of instruction? Will this imply
segregation within the school. Will this be good for education and society as a
whole? These and other questions are bound to arise.
In the interest of universal education the state
government should reconsider its decision of stopping aid to the presently
aided institutions and help the real PPP model in education. While several of
these institutions are community (caste or religious groups) based and
controlled and managed by them, others are secular bodies. Several of these
institutions are very old ones, started in pre-independence days, serving not
only the communities which took initiative in starting them but also public in
general. They have done yeoman’s service to the society. They have earned name
in serving unserved areas and sections, specially, girls. They have huge
buildings and other infrastructure and assets built with government funds and
contributions from the public at large. It would be indeed very sad day when
due to stoppage of government aid these institutions either close down, or
become sick units retrenching staff and reducing their salary or transforming
themselves into exclusive self-financing businesses. Incidentally, if the
institutions close down or transform into profit-oriented units, why should the
assets built with public money (through government and or community or
philanthropic contributions) be left with them?
Several scenarios can emerge after grants-in-aid
is stopped. The most likely scenario is that they will raise fees, start more
self-financing (carrier-oriented courses), offer minimum permissible salary to
teachers, employ them on temporary or guest faculty basis for seven to eight
months in a year, rotate their employment so as to avoid paying PF, dearness
and other allowances. Present government rules permit paying only minimum of
the grade during first two years of appointment; PF contribution and dearness
allowance are required to be paid only after two years of probation. In this
scenario, non-professional courses are to suffer and teachers will face
exploitation. In such a situation excellence in teaching and research cannot be
expected. Sooner than later these institutions will be either transformed into
pure corporate profit oriented ones or will close down.
This article has been written by Dr. B.C Mehta* and Dr. Kranti Kapoor**
* Emeritus Professor of Economics. He can be contacted at mehatbc@gmail.com.
** Teaches at National Law
University, Jodhpur She
can be contacted at dr.krantikapoor@gmail.com.