Editorial 1 : Don’t deny schools
Introduction: Over the past two decades, decentralisation has been the stated principle of the Centre’s universal education projects. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan — started in 2001 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA and continued by the UPA — claimed to make space for “context-specific solutions”. Centre’s holding up funds to states under Sarva Sikha Abhiyan is a cause of concern for universal education in India.
The flexibility to state remained on paper only
- The commitment to federalism has remained on paper.
- If BJP-ruled states, such as Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, complained frequently about the lack of autonomy vis a vis central funds for school education when the UPA was in power at the Centre, in the past 10 years, the Union education ministry has not always been on the same page with non-NDA states.
- Now, the ministry has stopped funds under the SSA to Delhi, Punjab and Bengal because of their reluctance to participate in the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) — the Centre’s scheme for exemplar schools.
Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) Scheme
It is a Centrally Sponsored scheme announced in 2022.
Features:
- The selected schools will act as exemplar schools showcasing all components of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) and offering mentorship to other schools in their vicinity.
- The PM SHRI Schools will be developed as Green Schools, incorporating environment-friendly aspects.
- The pedagogy adopted in these schools will be more experiential, holistic, integrated, play/toy-based (particularly in the foundational years), inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centric, discussion-based, flexible and enjoyable.
- The focus will be on the learning outcomes of every child in every grade.
- Assessment at all levels will be based on conceptual understanding and application of knowledge to real-life situations and will be competency-based.
- Linkage with Sector Skill Councils and local industry for enhancing employability and providing better employment opportunities will be explored.
- A School Quality Assessment Framework (SQAF) is being developed, specifying the key performance indicators to measure outcomes. Quality evaluation of these schools at regular intervals will be undertaken to ensure the desired standards.
concerns of states to the PM-SHRI scheme
- While the AAP-run governments in Delhi and Punjab claim they already run a similar initiative, “Schools for Excellence,” TMC-ruled West Bengal has objected to prefixing PM-SHRI to the names of their schools — it contends that the moniker lets the BJP-led Central government take all the credit even though states bear 40 per cent of the cost.
Poor children are caught in the cross firing of state and centre
- The eagerness of political parties to convey their role in welfare schemes to the voter is understandable.
- But the school-goer should not be caught in the cross hairs of competitive populism.
- The Centre’s insistence on linking SSA funds with the implementation of PM-SHRI and the refusal of the AAP and TMC governments to step back has precipitated a financial crunch in government schools in West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi.
The impact of centre’s holding up the funds
- The universal education programme has led to appreciable improvement in enrolment rates across the country.
- With schools beginning to implement the National Education Policy’s vision for student-centric pedagogy, the SSA’s role in addressing persistent challenges such as poor learning outcomes, inadequate infrastructure, lack of trained teachers and disparities in access and quality of education cannot be overstated.
- The withholding of funds could derail such efforts.
- Salaries for more than 2,000 government school teachers and staffers have been pending in Delhi since April.
- Also imperilled is the AAP government’s initiative to provide textbooks and uniforms in government schools, and support children with disabilities.
- On the PM-SHRI scheme, which aims to develop 14,500 government schools as model NEP institutions, Opposition-run governments in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have overcome their initial reservations about the project even as Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal refuse to sign the MoU.
- Under the AAP, Delhi has made significant strides in school education and the party’s government has reportedly taken steps to upgrade Punjab’s educational ecosystem.
- But as successive ASER reports show, Delhi and Punjab share West Bengal’s challenges in improving learning outcomes and school enrolment.
Conclusion: Overcoming poor learning outcomes in Delhi, Punjab and Wet Bengal will require continuous collaboration between the Centre and states. Politicking over SSA funds and the exemplar school scheme speaks poorly of their commitment to the future of the young.
Editorial 2 : New codes, the same old
Introduction: The new criminal codes have opened a debate on whether they are improvements in the old laws or just cosmetics over the old laws.
What does the new criminal codes change?
- There is cosmeticism, superficiality and vanity appear to be the hallmarks of these three grand announcements.
- The changes are neither substantial, fundamental nor structural and hence, result in a tragedy of missed opportunities.
- For example, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (IPC) modifies 175 of 511 IPC provisions — 34.24 per cent — but mostly marginally.
- This includes the repeal of 22 provisions and an addition of only eight.
- Chapter II of the IPC on General Explanations, which contained 48 provisions, has been packed into section 3 of Chapter I of the BNS.
- Similarly, Chapter XVII of the IPC on Offences Against Property, which contained 84 provisions, has been packed into 31 sections of Chapter XVII of the BNS.
- Therefore, as far as BNS is concerned, the real change is only an addition of eight new sections, which is 2.24 per cent of the total 356 sections.
The new codes have nothing “Indian” in them
- The government’s prime pitch of “Indian” laws is belied by neither decolonisation nor de-fanging of the most symbolic colonial curse — sedition (Rajdroh).
- Merely rechristening it as Deshdroh or a form of treason is an unintended salute to Macaulay.
- Adding insult to injury is the enhancement of the penalty from three to seven years.
- This is especially shocking because this has happened after two orders of the apex court in May 2022 and October 2022, recording the statement of no less than the Attorney General that the government would reconsider the entire issue, and in the meanwhile, keep such prosecutions in abeyance.
- The present more ferocious reincarnation of sedition is not only a betrayal of the SC and the nation, but is a living reality of state oppression at the ground level, when anyone, especially the fourth estate, speaks truth to power.
The amendment in remand period has not made life easier for arrestees
- Home Minister’s defence regarding the permissible remand period of 60/90 days being altered by section 187 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) (CrPC) is that the total period remains the same, but can now be sought by the police in bits and pieces within the first 40 days or 60 days (depending on whether the chargesheet filing limit is 60 days or 90 days for different categories of offences) and not continuously at one go.
- This defence hides the real malaise.
- The new laws allow the dangling of a Damocles’ sword on an undertrial.
- Henceforth, one may be detained for two days in one week and three days in the following week within the 40/60-day time period, as applicable.
- This explanation is retrograde and enhances the actual and potential harassment of arrestees.
- It decreases certainty and is practically unnecessary: Interrogation by police must be direct and forthwith since the arrest is already supposedly based on solid pre-existing material.
- While a recent Supreme Court judgment in Senthil Balaji appears to endorse the government’s viewpoint, another SC judgment, Anupam Kulkarni, now referred to a larger bench by Senthil, has frowned upon piecemeal police custody.
- Parliament should have waited for the judiciary to sort out this set of divergent views.
Innovative solution for structural reform in criminal justice system
- A structural reform required innovative approaches like the established institution of Recorders in the UK.
- Recorders sit in both Crown and County Courts and generally handle less complex or less serious matters.
- Appointed after a fair competition by the Judicial Appointments Commission, they are expected to sit for 30 days a year.
- Short though this may sound, Crown Courts in England have disposed of an average of 15 lakh cases per annum for the past 10 years.
- That is a large figure for that country and enhanced periods of sittings in the Indian context can lead to similarly beneficial consequences.
- Indeed, professionally less active senior advocates also present a good pool to draw upon for such ad hoc and temporary posts for, say, 90 or 120 days per year.
- Such structural reform alone can combat the scourge of arrears besetting the Indian criminal justice system.
Conclusion: All in all, India, in whose name the entire exercise was undertaken, becomes the loser suffering missed opportunities, cosmetic tinkering, absence of far-reaching structural reform and no panaceas for the triple scourges of mammoth criminal case arrears, endless trials and an abysmally low conviction rate.