April 1, 2010 was the day when the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education came into force. The Act mandates that all children in India between 6 - 14 years will receive free, compulsory, quality education.Girl children in India have been prevented from going to school due to various reasons - long distances from home to school, a lack of clean & separate toilets for girls, absentee teachers, household chores, taking care of siblings with both parents working... the list is endless.
It is estimated that a girl child has only a 24% chance of being enrolled in primary school and if she does get admitted to school, a 60% chance that she will drop out before she reaches high school. But this was before the Right to Education Act came into place.
Read more on the RTE Act and Girl children on Time.com - April 2010 - http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1985026,00.html
Given the situation, do you believe that the new Act will give girls an equal chance at education? Leave us your comments.
