The Right to Education (RTE) Act has laid down norms and standards for schools to ensure incluive and quality education for all children of India. All the elementary schools have to comply to these rules. Unfortunately, many schools, especially in the hinterlands of India flaunt these rules because the authorities seldom bother to check whether the school is complying to the RTE regulations. However, local communities are waking up to their children's rights and demanding that the RTE rules be implemented. Video Volunteers correspondent Satya Banchhor brings us one such story from the Bolangir district of Odisha.
The school, Ratakhandi Primary School was home to over 175 students but had only three teachers to conduct classes. The RTE norm states that there should be one teacher for every 33 students. Satya made a video on how children's education suffered and gathered parents to speak with the local authorities about the issue.
With community support and persistent follow-ups, within three months, change was possible. Today, there are five teachers, abiding to the RTE norms . Children are able to get quality education due to adequate number of teachers in Ratakhandi Primary School.
This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Satya Banchhor.
Community Correspondents come from marginalised communities in India and produce videos on unreported stories. These stories are ’news by those who live it.’ they give the hyperlocal context to global human rights and development challenges. See more such videos at www.videovolunteers.org. Take action for a more just global media by sharing their videos and joining in their call for change.
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