Two years after implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,a survey has found that implementing it still poses a challenge in rural West Bengal. "While doing an intensive field survey in several districts in West Bengal,it has been observed with concern that though the Act is in place,underprivileged children are often being denied of their rights," the survey conducted by Child Rights and You (CRY) co-partnered by West Bengal Education Network (WBEN) said. After two months of extensive survey,a WBEN report found that 1,210 children from the nine districts dropped out of schools before completing their education. "The data shows that all is not well in West Bengal as far as far as the implementation of the Right To Education is concerned," it said. "Data on school drop-out children,collected by WBEN,was submitted to the appropriate authority." CRY spokesperson Satya Gopal Dey said,"Our organisation believes that each and every child has rights to access full time formal school. Building public awareness is absolutely necessary." The districts surveyed were South and North-24 Parganas,East Midnapore,Hooghly,Burdwan,Bankura,Murshidabad,Malda,and North Dinajpur. Asked about the objective of the campaign,WBEN convenor Dipali Nandi said,"The purpose is to generate awareness among the common people on several aspects of the Right to Education Act,so that the community can have close vigil on the implementation process." Since the enactment of the Act,WBEN,supported by CRY,has organised workshops to sensitise self help groups,community-based organisations and civil society organisations.
