NATIONAL INTEREST
“Come back soon, Ammi!” a teary-
eyed Arhaan implored his mother,
when she dropped him to school in
April last year. It was his first day in
Lucknow’s Blue Bells School. When
Uzma Khan picked him up afterwards,
he was beaming, ear to ear. Arhaan
had qualified to study for free in this
elite school under the Right to Educa-
tion (RTE) Act. Uzma, a homemaker,
and her husband, who works as a
chauffeur, had always dreamt of a bet-
ter life for their two children. And in
that dream, private, English-medium
education featured prominently.When their seven-year-old daughter
Umra qualified through the RTE in one
of the city’s prominent private schools
in 2017, they were over the moon.
“They never really accepted her
though. When I went to meet the prin-
cipal, I was turned away. Umra is highly
intelligent, and I didn’t want to spoil her
chances. So I put her in a private school
anyway,” she added. So, when Arhaan
got accepted, it was one less expense
the family—with a monthly income of
`8,000—needed to worry about.
“Much as though we wanted it, we
wouldn’t have been able to manage68 august 2019
By Nilanjana BhowmickRIGHT TO
EDUCATION
A Progress Report
After a decade since the Right to Education Act
was passed, experts from the field assess its key
achievements and shortcomings
Photograph by Chandradeep Kumar