By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: They work in different households amidst various difficulties and hardships to earn their bread and butter, yet they remain steadfast in their quest and desire for knowledge.
This ‘never dying’ spirit was on ample display when young domestic workers of the State gathered together and demanded the State Government to immediately implement the Right to Education Act (RTE), 2010 in Meghalaya.
The RTE Act provides for free and compulsory education to children between the age group of 6-14 years.
Addressing a press conference in the city on Monday, Sister Wansuk Kyndait, a member of the North Eastern Regional Domestic Workers’ Movement (NERDWM), Meghalaya, said that the Act is important for hundreds of children from poor economic backgrounds as they also deserve to be educated and therefore RTE should be effectively implemented in the State.
“After various researches we found that these children are from poor family backgrounds and they are weak by nature,” she said.
While there are many poor children who have been deprived of the right to study, Falicia Ryngkhem, an 18-year-old girl, who works as a domestic help, narrated her dream of studying but, added that she could never get the opportunity to study as she has to earn for her mother and younger sister.
“My mother being the only bread winner in the family, I was forced to leave my studies and earn to look after my family,” Falicia told reporters.
It may be mentioned that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE) was passed by the Parliament on August 4, 2009, which describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between 6 -14 years in India under Article 21A of the Constitution. Under the Act, all schools, including privately-managed, must reserve 25 per cent of the seats for children from poor families.
The State Government had, earlier, announced that it is giving final touches to the Right to Education Act which will be implemented in the State from next year.