Child education in slums: Why is right to education still not accessible to the

children in slums.
Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom and the passport to
one’s future. It is the most empowering tool which one can use to change the
world. It is the process of achieving knowledge, values, skills, beliefs, and
moral habits. However, not all have been able to reap the benefits of the existing
education system. According to the Census 2011, there are 13.7 million slum
households across 63% of India’s towns. The residents of these households
include migrants, half of them being among the poorest of the poor. More than
eight million children under 6 years live in approximately 49,000 slums. There
are 22.72 million children (age group 5-18) living in urban slums who are out of
school.
The right to education act, which states every child between the ages of 6 to 14
years has the right to free and compulsory education was expected to bring a
huge surge of enrolments in schools. The government schools shall provide free
education to all the children and the schools will be managed by School
Management Committees (SMC). Private schools shall admit at least 25% of
the children in their schools without any fee. The National Commission for.
There is no direct (school fees) or indirect cost (uniforms, textbooks, mid-day
meals, transportation) to be borne by the child or the parents to obtain
elementary education. The government will provide schooling free-of-cost until
a child’s elementary education is completed. This act was passed in 2009, but
evidently, the children living in slums don’t have any access to education till
now. Education is the fundamental right of every individual living in India and
it has been proved to be a key to escaping the cycle of poverty across the world.
Yet, there remains many barriers which prevents these children from receiving
good quality education.
Enrolling in school is one of those many barriers.  According to RTE, for the
purpose of admission to elementary education, the age of a child shall be
determined on the basis of the birth certificate issued in accordance with the
Provisions of Birth. Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1856, or on the
basis of such other document as may be prescribed. Most of the people living in
slums don’t have the necessary documents required to enrol in a school. For
example, a birth certificate or a registration certificate. The adults/parents are
not educated enough to get their children these official papers and there is
nobody to teach them either. So first and foremost, the adults are required to be
provided with adequate knowledge and training as to how they can enrol their
children into schools.
Bringing eight million out-of-school children into classes at the age appropriate
level with the support to stay in school and succeed poses a major challenge
necessitating flexible, innovative approaches and is another barrier.
Educated girls are still a rarity amongst the urban poor populations where
deprivation and inequality are starkly evident and education is a luxury in the
struggle for survival. According to the latest survey data from the Unified
District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2017-18, the annual
average dropout rate of students is at 21.8 per cent. According to UNICEF, girls
have the highest rate of exclusion from school due to social discrimination. The
demands of poverty and various inescapable elements associated with urban
poverty, such as violence and economic instability, pose major barriers to
accessing and completing education. Ethnographic work in informal settlements
shows that they are often governed by traditional, patriarchal norms of culture,
which bind women to their homes through notions of honour and respectability.
Girl’s education remains a complex issue amongst poor communities who battle
with the tension of keeping the girls home to serve the family’s needs versus
sending them to school for returns that may never materialise. , girls are more
likely to leave school as they progress through adolescence, sometimes in order
to prepare them for marriage, sometimes to protect them from violence or
pregnancy, and sometimes to save the money their families would have spent on
school fees and supplies.

I would like to conclude by saying that: By giving good

education to these children, we will not only help them but
also can secure the living of their parents and their future, those
parents who are not capable enough to give education and a
brighter life to their children.

By
Anchal Chugh