On Wednesday, 1st December, 2010, my daughter became one of India's 96 million children who are Blessed to be able to go to school. She woke up early, bathed, dressed up and took the elevator to the entrance of her building where an air-conditioned bus came to drop her to her play-school, all for a monthly fee that will take care of the annual education of 15 of her Indian siblings. I hope she will learn someday to show gratitude for the fact that for the 3 million children on the streets, and, especially for the majority of her sorority, there will be no school. As of April 1, 2010, the Right to Education (RTE) Act made schooling a fundamental right for all children. But for 50% of India's 192 million children, the RTE will remain an April Fool's joke. Even more significantly, for the girl child, who actually grows up to be a woman and a mother (like the India-is-my-Motherland joke), this fundamental right is far from fundamental. It is much more of a privilege.
I hope and pray that she gets a meaningful, purposeful and socially beneficial education, so that the equally deserving, but less fortunate of her sisters may one day be able to read, understand and smile at how the RTE has benefited all children of our country, male and female.
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