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One of the directive principles of State Policy enunciated in the
Constitution of India relates to providing free and compulsory education for
all children in the country up to the age of 14 within a period of 10 years
from the date of commencement of the Constitution.
Unfortunately, even after 50 years since the
Constitution came into force we have been unable to achieve the target.
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The Supreme Court has also observed-
“Does not the passage of 44 years convert the obligation
created by Article 45 of the Constitution into an enforceable right? We must
say that at least now the State should honor the command of Article 45. It
must be made a reality at least now. Indeed the NPE 1986 says that the
promise of Article 45 will be redeemed before the end of the century. Be
that as it may, we hold that a child has a fundamental right to free
education up to age 14 years.”
-Supreme Court Judgment, 1994 |
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Universalisation of Primary Education was accepted as a target to be
achieved within a period of 10 years of the coming into force of the
Constitution i.e. 1960. Since then it has been revised several times without
achieving the target.
At
present, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of the Government of India pledges to
achieve this task by 2010. In Karnataka, the target year accepted by the
Department of Public Instruction is 2007. |
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The expansion of human capabilities
because of education contributes to human well being directly, apart from
its indirect role in social and economic development. With the opening of
economic opportunities due to liberalization, the State’s population has to
have basic education for growth to be sustained, to meet the needs of
modernized agriculture, for knowledge and skills, and of industry for
skilled manpower. |
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The State Government is the pre-eminent
agent in the primary education sector being responsible for establishing and
running primary schools in the State Under the decentralization initiatives
that were pioneered by Karnataka in the 1980’s, the responsibility for
running primary schools was first devolved to the Zilla Panchayats. Since
the late 1990’s, payment of teachers salaries has been further devolved to
the Taluk Panchayats. The district head of the Department of Public
Instruction, the Deputy Director,(Administration) is in charge of all
primary and high schools in the district reports administratively to the
Zilla Panchayat and Deputy Director of Public Instruction(DDPI)(Academic)
is giving academic support to school education. Both DDPI's are
responsible to the Commissioner for Public Instruction at the state level. |
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[Academic
Structure of Primary Education Directorate.] |
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Education
Policy :
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Every
child attends school. |
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Every
child attains, effectively, the minimum levels of learning. |
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Every
teacher is at school. |
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The
community is actively involved in the betterment of the schools, thereby
encouraging a mass campaign for primary education. |
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Goals and Objectives :
The main goals and
objectives of the Government of Karnataka towards universalization of
elementary education are: |
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To ensure that all 6-14 year old children are in classes 1-8 by 2007. |
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To ensure that all required infrastructure and human resources for
providing eight years of free, compulsory, relevant and quality education
are in place by 2007. |
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To ensure that education becomes a means of genuine empowerment of the
individual to achieve his/her full potential by 2007. |
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To ensure that the learning process is made locally relevant,
child-centered, activity-based and joyful by 2007. |
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To ensure that educational management is decentralized to the community
and that the
the community takes ownership to ensure children’s right to
education by 2007. |
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[Current
Status of Primary Education in Karnataka] |
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