In a radical initiative to expose the apathy and lack of basic facilities in the capital’s government schools two years into the Right to Education Act, Social Jurist, a lawyers’ and social activists’ collective, has enlisted students of government schools through a postcard campaign to hold their schools accountable for denying them quality education and violating the RTE Act.

The purpose of the postcard campaign is to start a “psychological war” so that principals and teachers know that they can be held accountable. This gives the power in the hands of the children to stand up for their rights in the schools and report what is not working so that the right action can be taken.

The response to this campaign which started in May 2012 has been mind boggling. Over 500 students have participated so far exposing common problems like teacher absenteeism, poor hygiene, lack of drinking water facilities, lack of security and lack of proper infrastructure are in government schools. Few of them are:

1. “My English teacher makes students massage her head and press her hand and feet.Are teachers being paid for this?”
2.  “Students have to clean the classroom, roll number-wise, on a daily basis.”
3. “Teachers are always sleeping and when students call them they shoo them away,”
4. “Even though there is a water tank in the school premises there isn’t adequate water available and that students are not allowed to fill their water bottles.”

These are just a few problems. Hoping that such daring initiatives by children will work in their favour and will force the government to take action and implement the Right to Education Act effectively and deliver quality education to children belonging to the weaker sections of the society.

Read the complete article here: The Postcard Campaign in Delhi