The Question of "Quality" in Education : Does the RTE Act Provide an Answer? <Special Issue : Right to Education>

Policy discourse on education in India has moved from the question of "access" to "quality" of schooling. The notion of quality is undefined, yet a complex aggregation of characteristics including physical infrastructure, learning outcomes and effi ciency have emerged as critical policy concerns. Drawing from available literature that critiques the notion of "quality" in education, the paper proposes a set of parameters at four levels- education system, school, teacher, student - that can help to understand the notion of quality. The paper further analyses the provisions of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 to understand if quality is provided for in the legislation and if so, in what manner. Finally, the paper comments on the gaps and potential of the legal provisions in answering the question of quality in education.