ABSTRACT
The Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009, one of the most important policy frameworks at the national level, aims to provide free access to elementary education to all children ages 6 to 14. The implementation of this act has improved access to elementary education, as the gross enrollment ratio reached 99.21 per cent in 2015–2016. But access to good quality education that effects social, economic and political transformation and is a key instrument for building an equitable society has yet to be achieved. To achieve the goal of quality in education, the state has now shifted its policy focus from input-based to outcome-based targets. The basic goal for shifting the policy’s implementation is to improve school effectiveness, as measured in terms of equal opportunity for schooling and equitable learning outcomes within the framework of inclusive and quality education in accordance with the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The school merger policy in the state of Rajasthan is one example of this policy shift. In 2014, it became one of the first states to implement the school merger policy on a large scale, based on enrolment and distance norms laid down by the RTE Act. Overall, the major findings of the present study are that the school merger policy has been implemented without having full-fledged policy documents and proper methodology in terms of school identification and the merger process. Children have been restricted in their right to attend neighbourhood schools because of the process of school mergers in Rajasthan.
