Current Affairs 5 September 2020 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 5 September 2020 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

1. Andhra govt’s English medium move
2. Quad should ensure Freedom of Indian Ocean
3. State of the Young Child In India

Andhra govt’s English medium move

Why in News ?

The Supreme Court refused to stay the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order striking down the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s decision to make English the medium of education for government school students from Classes I to VI beginning 2020-21 academic year.

Court Observation

• Section 29(2)(f) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act says that the medium of instruction shall, as far as practicable, be in a child’s mother tongue.
• RTE Act does not bar English medium instruction in schools, and there is no restraint on private schools or minority institutions from having Telugu medium.
• The court observed that the government decision was Unconstitutional and against RTE Act.

Legal Provision

• Section 29 : Curriculum and evaluation procedure
  • The academic authority, while laying down the curriculum and the evaluation procedure under sub-section (1), shall take into consideration the following, namely:
    • Section 29 (f) : medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother tongue;

Constitutional Provisions

The government decision is a violation of Articles 14, 21 and 21-A of the Constitution.

Article 21 (a) : To provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine

• Article 29(1) : The Constitution Of India 1949. (1) Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.
• Article 350A : It shall be the endeavour of every State and of every local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups.

Why Government Favoured English ?

• Introduction of English medium is a progressive decision
• Due to non-availability of English medium in government schools, the parents were forced to send their children to the private schools spending huge money
• Helpful for higher studies and global communication.
• A survey conducted by the government revealed that 95% of students and parents wanted English as the medium of instruction.

Issues with English medium ?

• Affect the regional language or mother tongue.
• Children learn better and faster in a language they can understand, also easy to teach other language if he/she can understand mother tongue.
• Mother tongue develops a child’s personal, social and cultural identity.
• Parents those who cannot understand English can also participate in by helping with homework and can participate in school activities

Source :  Indian Express

Topic

GS II : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Quad should ensure Freedom of Indian Ocean

Why in News ?

India wants the Quad to become a system to ensure Freedom of Navigation (FoN) and Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) in the Indian Ocean and around.

What is Quad ?

• Quadrilateral Security Dialogue also known as the Quad is an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia and India.
• The forum was initiated as a dialogue in 2007 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.
• This is widely viewed as an alternative to growing Chinese threat in the region.
• It was temporarily ceased to in 2008 due to diplomatic and governmental changes in the member countries, it regained during the 2017 ASEAN Summits result of tension in South China Sea.

Need for Quad

• China’s recent moves, including its aggression in the South China Sea and transgressions and deadly clashes across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to prevent for a peaceful Sea. 
• Coordinated effort to provide financing and sustainable alternatives to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• To ensure connectivity, sustainable development, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and maritime and cyber security, with a view to promoting peace, stability and prosperity in an increasingly inter-connected Indo-Pacific region.
• India invites Australia to join Malabar naval exercise along with US & Japan. 
• China attempted to hijack multilateral institutions, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) further increases the need for Quad.
• Global supply chain problems, recognizing the vulnerability of their dependence on China.
• Recently China imposed sanction against Australia by stopping import beef, wines, 80 percent tariff on barley imports. 

Quad impact on China?

• Most countries depend on the economic relations with China. China has been a manufacturing destination since the 1980s
• Speedy decision making under the authoritarian regime and infrastructural support from Japan has contributed to the rise of China as the factory of the world.
• Quad+ policy of decoupling from China may affect the Chinese world market and economy. 
• The introduction of Quad plus countries like Vietnam, South Korea and New Zealand is a positive move as these nation face security issues primarily in the maritime domain.

Challenges to the Grouping

• Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s resignation was a blow to the Quad because Abe was one of the major supporter of this initiative.
• Upcoming presidential election in US concern about possible changes in US leadership. 

Source : The Hindu

Topic

Prelims : About Quad

GS II : Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

State of the Young Child In India

Why in News ?

State of the Young Child in India report released by the 50-year-old NGO, which works in the field of early childhood care and development by ensuring creche services at construction sites and slum settlements across several cities.

About The Report

• The index has been constructed for two time periods (2005–2006 and 2015–2016) to enable inter-State comparisons as well as provide an idea of change over time.
• The report has two Parts
  • Young child outcomes index
    • Health, nutrition and cognitive growth
    • Indicators such as infant mortality rate, stunting and net attendance at the primary school level.
  • Young child environment index
    • To understand the policy and environment enablers that influence a child’s well-being.
    • It uses five policy enablers
      • Including poverty alleviation,
      • Strengthening primary healthcare,
      • Improving education levels,
      • Safe water supply
      • Promotion of gender equity.

Report Details and Findings

• Young child outcomes index
  • The overall India score is 0.585 out of 1.
  • It identifies eight States that have scores below the country’s average : Assam, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
  • Kerala, Goa, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram are among the top five states for the well-being of children.
• Young child environment index
  • The overall India score is 0.672 out of 1.
  • Eight States that have a below average score
  • The environment index, Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh secured the top five positions.
• Analysis on expenses towards child nutrition, healthcare, education and other necessary protection services, India spent Rs. 1,723 per child in 2018–2019, an amount that is insufficient and fails to reach the entire eligible population.
• While the population of children under six years of age is 158.8 million, the ICDS covers only 71.9 million children as calculated from the total number of beneficiaries across States.

Government Effort in Early Childhood Development

Need : 90% of brain development has already taken place by the time a child is six years of age making the early years a particularly crucial stage for intervention.

India’s quality of ECCE lags behind the rest of the world, ranking last among 45 countries in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2012 survey of ECCE quality.

• ICDS programme lays more emphasis on nutrition, growth monitoring & immunization of children. But the pre-school education component is neglected in ICDS.
• National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recommends restructuring school education on the 5+3+3+4 model, where the first five years in the age group of 3-8 years are called the foundational stage.

Source : The Hindu

Topic 

GS : Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders

Current Affairs 5 September 2020 : Our major Sources for the Current Affairs are The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB. For more queries and mentor-ship please contact us.