Misperceptions about the Common School System

There are a number of misperceptions regarding the Common School System which need to be dispelled. The following are some of these misperceptions:

a) The Common School System is a uniform school system

This is not correct because all that the Common School System seeks is to apply common minimum norms for providing education of equitable quality to all children. Within the framework of this overarching requirement, each school would have full autonomy and flexibility to respond to local contexts and environment. Subject to the fulfillment of these minimum norms and compliance with the basic principle of the Constitution of India, the different categories of schools joining the Common School System will have flexibility relating to the size, composition, procedures and rules and regulations for managing the schools.

b) The common school system will not permit a privately-managed school to retain its non-governmental character

This is also a wrong perception of the Common School System. All non-governmental aided schools, which will be a part of the Common School System, will continue to be privately managed. Non-governmental unaided private schools will also remain under private management. The only requirement for them will be to apply the common minimum norms and to subject themselves to inspection for ensuring compliance with these norms. These latter category of private schools will be required to function in consonance with the basic principles underlying the Indian Constitution and to provide free and compulsory elementary education of equitable quality, as required under Article 21A.

c) The Common School System will mean complete government control over schools

Here a distinction must be drawn between control and management. The Common School System recommended by the Commission, proceeds on the assumption that schools will be managed locally in a decentralized mode. Therefore, the question of interference in the management of schools would not arise. The government’s control will be confined to keeping surveillance over the schools joining the Common School System, in order to ensure compliance with the minimum norms.

d) The parents have the right to choose so far as the schooling of their children is concerned, but the Common School System will curb this right

Under the Indian Constitution, an Indian citizen has no fundamental right to choose the school to which she wants to send her ward. It is open to the State to limit this choice to ensure compliance with the basic principles of the Indian Constitution as well as with its specific provisions as in Article 21A. Besides, if the choice of school for the children of

rich parents is going to inhibit the choice of the poor parents to send their children to the school of their liking, then certainly the State has a responsibility to intervene and restrict the choice of the rich parents in a manner it deems appropriate.

In Western countries, the government’s right to compel parents to send children to the public school under the Common School System has long been recognized. Almost all the developed countries having a Common School System oblige parents to send their children to the school in the neighbourhood designated by them. In Canada, “the government has prohibited schools from selective admission based on student’s grades prior to grade X, to prevent elitist tendencies and ensure equity”. (Raham, 2003). Moreover, the schools in Canada including those outside the Common School System, have to receive government inspection every two years and are subject to closure if they fail to implement any recommendation of the inspection report.

Several of the misperceptions are genuine and they need to be dispelled as has been partially attempted in this section of the Chapter. But a number of the misperceptions are motivated and reflect the concerns of deeply entrenched vested interests in education, which stand to gain from the perpetuation of the present system characterised by inequality and exclusion. Some of the other misperceptions reflect the caste and class bias of the persons from which they emanate. A school system which breeds inequality and discrimination is not permitted by the Indian Constitution. It is the responsibility of the government to discharge its constitutional obligation and to serve vital national interests by establishing the Common School System which alone is capable of providing education which is both equitable and inclusive. The government cannot allow its endeavour in this direction to be thwarted by vested interests and those which are swayed mainly by sectarian considerations.

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Chapter 4