Dr.Niranjanaradhya.V.P.
Fellow and Programme Head,
Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University [email protected]
The Parliament, known as Sansad in India assumes greater significance in view of the basic principles and assumptions associated with parliamentary democracy. A parliamentary form of government acknowledges the fact that in this system, Parliament derives its power directly from the consent of the people expressed through periodic elections and it exists to implement the aspirationsof the people. The parliamentary system also ensures the best possible participatory democratic system and active interaction between the people and their representatives. In this system, the executive is not only emanates from Parliament but is also accountable to Parliament for all its acts of omission and commission. This accountability of the Executive to Parliament is based on the principle that since Parliament represents the aspirationsof the people, it should be able to oversee and keep the Executive under control and constant surveillance.[1]
In essence, the Parliament is basically a body elected by the people to fulfill their aspirations in accordance with the Constitution and also the promises and commitment made during periodic elections. In order to make the citizens aware of the deliberations in Parliament, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has taken several steps to record the proceedings.
A careful reading of the unstarred questions raised and the answers obtained from the honourable Minister of Ministry of the Human Resource Development areutterly disappointing. Most of the questions raised by the honourable Parliamentarians looks like an exercise of asking the questions to get the answer which is already in the public domain. For instance, an unstarredquestion raised by Shri.Jayadevan.C.M. on the question ‘whether the government proposes to devise a new education policy?’ , the Minister of Ministry of Human Resource Development has answered the question by pasting a paragraph that is available on the Ministry website [2]. It indicates that either the honourable member is unaware of such an important process or the minister is not bothered to send a set of documents to all members to keep them informed about the process of policy formulation which is predominantly the domain of elected representatives. Does it mean the government is not transparent enough in the process or just for the namesake they have hosted it on the website?
Most of the answers obtained through the unstarred questions are already available in the documents published by the Ministry and other related departments of the ministry. For instance, the unstarred question[3] raised by Adv,Chintaman Navasha Wanga and Shri. P.C.Mohan regarding the post of teachers lying vacant in various Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country was answered on 26th November 2014 with an annexure that runs to 21 pages.is it a good practice to burden the exchequer to get the answer for questions which is already available in he published documents. Many a times the questions are repetitive and the answers are stereotypical.
The questions raised questions lack vision on the core question of “What kind of national education system need to be built” to address the fundamental problems faced by the current education system in terms of access, retention, quality on the one hand and the contents of education, parameters of teacher education, equality in opportunities and above all social justice in order to achieve the core Constitutional values embodied in the preamble of the Indian Constitution to create an egalitarian society in the long run.
Surprisingly, no questions neither aagainst on-going commercialization, privatisation, commodification and Public Private Partnership (PPP) of education in the country nor communalisation and saffranisation of education by appointing people from extremely right ideological wing represented by RSS and Sangh Parivarto key educational positions. Let alone raising the questions related to onslaught of World Bank and World Trade Organisation in the area of education.
In conclusion the questions raised and the answers obtained in Lok Sabha reveal that there is no theoretical basis for the formulation of questions based on the Constitutional Valuesor the effective implementation of the previous policies of 1968, 1986 and 1992 (Revised Policy). As all of us know, the earlier policies were formulated on the basis of the Constitutional Values affirming to build a National System of Education based on the Common School System[4]rooted in the neighbourhood school principle based on the recommendations of Education Commission and further referred in the Review Committee to review National Policy on Education (NEPRC).[5]
In the light of all these developments, it is need of the hour to bring all primary stakeholders; students, parents, teachers, social movements together to build a massive movement not less than second freedom struggle to build a national system of education rooted in the principle of neighborhood common school system fully funded by the state to realize the larger goals of social justice and equality as enshrined in the Constitution.
* Dr.Niranjanaradhya.V.P.,Fellow and Programme Head ,Universalization of Equitable Quality Education Programme, Centre for Child and the Law , National Law School of India University
[1]As quoted by N.K.Sapra, Joint Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat India in his paper presented at the Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific (APAPLAP) Eighth biennial conference held in New Delhi, India on, 18-22 January 2005.Emphasis added.
[1]As quoted by N.K.Sapra, Joint Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat India in his paper presented at the Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific (APAPLAP) Eighth biennial conference held in New Delhi, India on, 18-22 January 2005.Emphasis added.
[1]As quoted by N.K.Sapra, Joint Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat India in his paper presented at the Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific (APAPLAP) Eighth biennial conference held in New Delhi, India on, 18-22 January 2005.Emphasis added.
[2]http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/Themes_questions_SE.pdf
[3] See unstarred question no 1429 raised by Patil Shri Chandrakanth Raghunath answered on 4.3.2015in Lok Sabha
[4] See Para 4(b) ,3.2 and 3.3 respectively in the 1968,1986 and 1992(Revised ) National Policy on Education
[5] http://www.teindia.nic.in/mhrd/50yrsedu/g/T/HB/0THB0601.htm(The NPERC refers to Common Schools in Chapters 3 and 4 of its Report. In Chapter 3 it states that except for a small number of schools in the Urban Sector, the majority of schools which are in the rural sector are already common schools and neighbourhood schools. Unless the Government and local body schools are upgraded through infrastructural and academic inputs the common school system cannot become a reality and the present division of the country between those who have access to the few privileged schools and those who gain admission in the poor quality schools will persist. Educational policies, including the NPE, 1986 take a stance in favour of the majority but there is little evidence that action has been taken in keeping with these intentions. The NPERC states that all schools in the country should become community schools. Through involvement with the concerns of the community around, the schools would become neighbourhood schools as a first step towards fully entering into a Common School System)