Human Rights Education- Why Necessary?

By D.L. Tripathi
Right to education has now acquired the status of Fundamental Rights as enshrined in our Constitution. Now the time has come that Human Rights Education should become the necessary part of teaching in Schools and at higher educational levels. The necessity is to introduce it right at the Primary Stage. It is basically a stage where from a child is grown to boyhood and youth. Here he comes across all cultural, customary, traditional practices and learns them owns them and practices them. These get fixed in his mind and he behaves accordingly. You can try to remove the adverse features prevailing in Casteism but this is a big task. The Result is that when one grows elder he follows that behavior and temperament in the matter of untouchability, caste traditions attendant with all ills, Communalism etc. He no more remains basically by nature attuned to the goal of secularism, brotherhood and equality – to contribute to our bodypolitic. Equality and Fraternity the Pious goals set in our Constitution look imaginary when faced with the reality otherwise. It is therefore, necessary to produce secular and more responsible citizens wedded to human rights.
Dr. Ambedkar considered caste as the sole and primary reason for social inequality and asserted for its annihilation. Even Gandhi ji endeavoured to eliminate caste based discrimination in India through basic Education, which he proposed to Wardha Conference of Congress in 1937. Kothari Commission on Education too felt the necessity of a common school system for everybody but his recommendations remained only on papers. Today Education has become a commodity- higher you pay better you purchase even at the grassroots level. Whereas we find the world over that in most of the countries UK, USA, OECD etc. nowhere the Primary School Education is left to private sector because it is here that the foundation for patriotism, brotherhood, harmony and fraternity is laid down. In India it has become a business even to the remotest village that private primary schools are operating without any code of the values they imbibe in the tender minds. Human Rights Education is on their Agenda and finds space in their curricula.
The International Congress on Teaching of Human Rights (Vienna-Austria-1979) underlined that Human Rights Education and Teaching must aim at: “Fostering attitudes of Tolerance, respect and Solidarity- providing knowledge about human rights and developing the individual’s awareness of the ways and means by which human rights can be translated into social and political reality.”
Second Congress of 1987 (Malta) defined guidelines for human rights education at international, National and Regional levels and stressed the necessity to create a complete system of human rights teaching and education with the broad participation of public organisations and the media. The third Conference held in Montreal-Canada in March 1993 stressed the intrinsic link between human rights and Democracy. It declared that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated that the international community must treat these equally.
On the call of Vienna Conference UN decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004) was proclaimed. Under Plan of action UNESCO was assigned the role for design, implementation and for evaluation of projects. In 1995 a close cooperation was envisaged between the UN & UNESCO for human rights education. UNESCO’s long-term objective is the creation of a comprehensive system of education for Human Rights, Democracy and Peace embracing all levels of education. This goal can only be achieved with the combined efforts of all concerned in the society.
The NHRC made efforts to ensure that education at all levels does incorporate human rights issues thereby imbibing human rights values and setting up a culture of respect towards human rights in society. It is at the direction of the NHRC that efforts have been made since 1999 to bring about human rights education module at various levels of higher education for introduction in Universities and in colleges, but at formal education level the success appears to be quite distant. The UGC introduced the model in the year 2001 in various colleges and universities. It is due to the glaring judgments of the SC that Human Rights education has become an important area. Today The Armed Forces, Police Training Institutions and other Agencies have introduced human rights education in their curriculum. Also there is need to encourage and promote human rights education awareness among professional groups such as Medical, Engineering, Management and basic Sciences etc.
The National Policy on education (1986- revised in 1992) has laid down considerable emphasis on value-based education. With the rights education duties education has to be the part of the syllabus. Article 51-A contained in Part IV of the Constitution deals with the fundamental duties. Today our society has reached a stage where a very few percentage of people have access to the major resources while the billions of people – the Women, the Children, the deprived classes have a remote possibility of access. How long this can continue? This situation is encouraging the source of crime and violence witnessed in daily happenings. Here lies the dire need to know the rights and duties. This can be possible only through human rights education being imparted at all levels. This would lead us to achieve our cherished ideal of a democratic free society with a welfare State wherein all people irrespective of any caste or creed would be able to live together in harmony and with equal opportunities without discrimination.
At the close of UN decade it has come up with World Programme for Human Rights Education with special focus on Primary and Secondary Schools (2005-2007 till extended). The basic concept behind the World Programme for Human Rights Education is to create and achieve stable and harmonious relations among communities and for fostering mutual understanding, tolerance and peace. The Institute of Human Rights Education, Madurai is doing tremendous work in this direction. In many of the districts in 11 States of India the Institute has endeavoured to start and conduct human rights education in hundreds of schools for 6th, 7th and 8th standards. The NCERT has constituted a Committee to formulate a Syllabus for human rights course as a subject (optional) at the Senior Secondary level. Institute of human rights Education – Madurai is the significant contributor in this task. Lot of efforts are being made at every State level by the units of IHRE. Ajmer being the head office to further the cause in Rajashan- Sister Geeta Carol as director headed by Justice SN Bhargava and assisted by many dignitaries the Programme has progressed at many centres in the State. But this is only limited to Private Schools so far.
The State government though approached on umpteen occasions needs to take steps to introduce the subject of human rights at least up to Secondary level. Lot of dividend could be reaped in maintaining peace, harmony and also in the matter of imparting Social Justice. The recent decision of the centre to introduce lessons on various facets of RTI Act in School curriculum through NCERT to create awareness and transparency is welcome. With this it is imperative today to include Human Rights Education chapters with necessary role modules with RTI. This would meet India’s commitment to all Covenants and declarations etc. at international level.