Policy Bazaar thinks, not Right to Education but insurance ensures kids' schooling

While frequent advertisements on TV are extremely jarring, I was a little amused while watching a Policy Bazaar-sponsored advertisement. The advisement by one of India's most well-known online insurance brokers sees a woman asking a kid entering the house why he hasn't been to school. The kid enters in with a bag full of vegetables in his hand which he presumably bought in the market at a time he should have been in the school.

The kid's mother -- visibly annoyed with drops coming out of her house -- responds by stating that the kid, named Rishi, couldn't go to school because she failed to pay his fees for the last three months, hence he was forcibly "dropped out". In the background one can see the kid's father's garlanded and framed photograph hanging on the wall, suggesting his was an untimely death.

The commentary ends by insisting upon the viewers that one should buy a Rs 2 crore health insurance plan starting at as little as Rs 690 per month to avoid such an eventuality. It's available on policybazaar.com. This, says the commentary by a woman in the background, is needed to ensure that the child's dreams do not go awry and keep the family's life secure.

I was left wondering: Does the Policy Bazaar not know that under the Rights to Education (RTE) Act, which came into effect in 2010, provides for free and compulsory education in private schools for up to 8th standard for children from economically disadvantaged communities? Since the kid's age in the advertisement is not mentioned, a look at his face made me assume that he should be in the 7th standard!

While 25% of seats are supposed to be reserved for the economically disadvantaged sections, the management cannot take any capitation fees or donations for admission, nor can there be any interviews while admitting a child in this quota. Or should one believe that Policy Bazaar seeks to indict the private schools for taking fees from economically backward children, or rather non-implementation of the RTE Act?

Scanning through the internet I stumbled upon a decade old well-researched story in Down to Earth regretting that "only 5% schools in the country meet RTE provisions. In strict legal terms, recognition to the remaining 95% schools should have been withdrawn. But this is not possible in a country that does not have enough schools to meet the demand." The story adds, while enrolment in government schools has drastically gone down, it has increased in private schools.
Has the situation changed in any manner? Doesn't seem so, especially considering that the present powers that be are increasingly emphasising on privatisation in every sphere, including education. Let me quote from a recent (April 2024) Newsclick report: "Contrary to the Modi government’s promise of improving access to education, the reality is that between 2018-19 and 2021-22, the total number of schools in India decreased by 61,885, dropping from 15,51,000 to 14,89,115. The most significant decline was observed in Central and State government schools, accounting for 61,361 closures.”
The report adds, "The decrease in the number of government schools has been accompanied by a rise in the number of private schools, which makes accessibility a big question for the marginalised sections." So, is this Policy Bazaar's imagined kid made to suffer thanks to government indifference towards making education compulsory, and failing to ensure that he can have free education in a government school?

Or does Policy Bazaar think that all kids must be educated in private schools, and government schools have no reason to exist. RTE or no RTE? For, an insurance policy would lose its importance if no fees would need to be paid!

Comments

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Search This Blog