Here, the Education department takes a smart step to overcome this issue. Yes, if a child is on leave for more than a week, the parent may find a notice right at their door step.
Well, it may sound annoying but, the Education department has decided to take action 'to discipline' parents who do not ensure that their wards are attending school.
In order to control the increasing number of out-of-school children (OOSC), the state Education Department has proposed the creation of an Attendance Authority, which is empowered to persuade parents first, notify them next and regulate them later.
A draft of the proposal on setting up the Attendance Authority states that, the authority will be created in the derivation from Section 10 of the RTE Act.
It states that, "It shall be the duty of every parent or guardian to admit his or her child/ward as the case may be, to an elementary education in the neighbourhood school."
A retired official of Education department said "This concept is not new, as the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 provided for an authority for attendance, which included a penalty on parents of 2 for each day's contravention." "But it was never successful. Why will parents respect a notice that cannot be legally enforced like a court notice?", he questions.
According to the Education department, there are 51,994 OOSC of whom 34,034 are being mainstreamed. Also, activist Katyayini Chamaraj has contended before the high court that 6.28 lakh children have either dropped out in the last seven years, or are missing.
V P Niranjan Aradhya, Fellow, Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, said this proposal violates the spirit of the RTE Act itself. "The state is supposed to create a conducive environment in which parents will voluntarily send children to school," he added.