Maharashtra tribal children send postcards to CM seeking free education till age 18

Nearly 1.5 lakh tribal children from four Maharashtra districts launched a postcard campaign urging Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to extend free and compulsory education to all children up to 18 years of age, aligning the state's policy with the National Education Policy 2020.

In Short

• Thousands of tribal children from four Maharashtra districts sent postcards for free education
• Children posted postcards on July 2, addressed to CM Devendra Fadnavis
• Organisation met CM and submitted memorandum with postcard replica

Thousands of tribal children from four districts of Maharashtra have picked up the humble yellow postcard to urge the state government to provide free and compulsory education for every child up to age 18.

On July 2, some children dropped the postcards into postboxes in their neighbourhoods, while others handed them over to their local postmasters. Several students also placed them in decorated collection boxes brought to their schools for the campaign.

The children addressed the postcards to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as part of an awareness campaign organised by tribal rights organisation Shramjeevi Sanghatana, according to its officials.

"Dear Devabhau, only you can provide free and compulsory education to every child in the state of Maharashtra up to the age of 18," read the postcards.

Nearly 1.5 lakh children from tribal regions of Palghar, Thane, Nashik, and Raigad districts participated in the week-long campaign, which culminated on Thursday with the posting of the postcards, the organisation said.

A POSTCARD CAMPAIGN TO REACH THE CHIEF MINISTER

According to Shramjeevi Sanghatana, its representatives met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum along with an oversized replica of the children's postcard.

While the Right to Education (RTE) Act guarantees free and compulsory schooling up to the age of 14, the organisation is demanding that Maharashtra proactively extend this provision to cover all children between the ages of 3 and 18.

According to the organisation, such an expansion would align with the framework of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, as well as with specific recommendations from NITI Aayog regarding senior secondary education.

(With PTI inputs)

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