MEMORANDUM

21 February 2006

To,

The Prime Minister
Government of India
New Delhi

Honourable Sir,

We, the children from different parts of the country, Members of the Parliament and civil society organizations strongly believe that education is the key to national prosperity, social justice and empowerment. As a result of collective efforts the country has shown a strong will in making education a fundamental right through the 86 th Constitutional Amendment and initiating education cess to mobilise additional resources. In this backdrop we demand:

  • To pass the pending bill for Free, Compulsory, Meaningful and Quality Education in the on-going Parliamentary session.
  • To invest at least 6% of GDP on education.
  • To form the National Commission for Elementary Education at the earliest on the lines of National Human Rights Commission. The composition of the Commission must reflect various streams of society – civil society, judiciary, media, bureaucracy and polity.
  • To ensure that there is a complete ban on child labour. Amend National Laws (e.g. Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986) if necessary, to comply with the content of the UN Convention on the Rights of Child & ILO Convention 138 and 182, and ensure that the national laws on the age of completing compulsory education and the minimum age of employment complement with each other.
  • To spend the money raised through education cess for primary education as originally agreed upon. This money should not be diverted towards higher education.
  • To achieve all the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the Government must set up a mechanism to coordinate among relevant ministries and agencies on policy and action integrating the linkages between child labour, education and poverty elimination in its overall development strategy. These should include Ministry of Human Resource Development, Health and Family Welfare, Labour, Rural Development, Finance, and Education. An inter-ministerial committee should be set-up to look into the coordination between the ministries.