Fight for an equal education

While the whole country was celebrating the enforcement of the Right to Education Act on Thursday, hundreds of people in Mumbai went on a march to protest against the same Act and the state of education in our country.
What most of us don’t realise is that the new Act – by making education a fundamental right for kids aged 6 years to 14 years – has now excluded education for children under the age of six, a provision that has been in the Constitution for the past 60 years.



Members of about 40 organisations and prominent citizens were also protesting against the government’s increasing privatisation of education, and the fact that the number of private schools is growing, while the number of government schools is decreasing alarmingly. Their contention is that this the Act will only increase disparities in the education system.



The procession moved from Dadar all the way to Bandra, and included a depiction of the constitution chained by the Act.


Mumbai Smiles also took part in the procession, and here you can see our Neelratan (second from right) from our Projects Department joining the march.



The march ended at the Chaityabhoomi with a pledge to bring in a legislation based on social justice and equity.



Tomorrow, we will tell you more about our involvement in the city's drive to provide an equal and quality education for children.