Rationalisation of Schools and Its Impact on Children’s Right to Education: Narratives of Violation of the RTE Act 2009

Abstract

The school rationalisation process in India led to the closure/merger of many public schools in the country. This closure/merger has been contested widely on the grounds that it might have a negative consequence for the marginalised children, who could break the age-old barriers and ‘access’ school education owing to the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. The article, through a case study method in seven southern districts of Rajasthan exploring the rationalisation policy vis-à-vis the RTE Act, found that the closure/merger process lacked transparency, was done without proper mapping, and, thus, violated many of the RTE norms and standards. We argue that the policy of rationalisation led to a violation of the RTE Act in many ways, curtailing the role of small schools, which played a major role in the universalisation of elementary education.