With the Central government aiming to provide free and compulsory education to all children under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,2009,children and their parents from 22 districts of the state have prepared a charter of demands under the banner of Child Rights and You (CRY). On Monday,a delegation of CRY presented the charter,with 25,000 signatories,to Governor B L Joshi. The charter will also be sent to the Prime Minister and the President. State Coordinator of Equal Education to All campaign,launched by CRY,Waseem Qureshi,said: The Central government's initiative of bringing this Act is welcomed,but one needs to look at the ground realities in the state,where surveys indicate that more than 50 per cent of the children are not going to school. Although the Act promises a school to all children between 6 to 14 years of age in the neighbourhood,in UP,children still have to walk miles to reach a school and this is one of the major reasons for increasing dropout rate. According to Vinika Karoli,Consultant of CRY,to ensure that all children go to school regularly,the government should ensure that there is a school within one km of habitation. Sixty per cent of the higher secondary schools in rural areas are situated at a distance,which is the reason why children do not continue their education after primary level, said Karoli. The charter has been prepared after discussing the provision of the Act with the parents and the children from 22 districts. It suggests changes in the Act before it is implemented and includes education for children from 3 years of age instead of 6 like the urban areas. We are talking of equal education and allowing rural children to come at par with their urban counterparts. But while urban children go to school at the age of 3,rural children start their education three later, said Qureshi. Jitendra Chaturvedi,a CRY partner from Behraich said: The Act should also take the children in forest tribal villages into its fold. Across 150 villages across the state,there are only two villages which have schools.
