Education for All!

The modern society goes beyond the three essentials of food, clothing, shelter and includes education as a necessity too for the empowerment of an individual. In the year 1950, India committed to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14, by adding this provision in article 45 of the directive principles of state policy.

The Indian Constitution was amended for the 86th time on 12th December, 2002 for this purpose. As a result, Article 21A was amended by the Constitution in order to introduce the Right to Education as a fundamental right.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act finally came into force on 1st April, 2010. The Act provides free and compulsory education to all children from six to fourteen years of age. It is now a legally enforceable duty of the Centre and the states, to provide free and compulsory education.

The major provisions of the Act are as follows:

• Every child between the age of six to fourteen years, shall have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school, till completion of elementary education.
• For this purpose, no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
• Where a child above six years of age has not been admitted to any school or though admitted, could not complete his or her elementary education, then, he or she shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his or her age.
• For carrying out the provisions of this Act, the appropriate government and local authority shall establish a school, if it is not established, within the given area, within a period of three years, from the commencement of this Act.
• The Central and the State Governments shall have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of this Act.

This Act is an essential step towards improving each child's accessibility to secondary and higher education. The Act also contains specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or any such factor. With the implementation of this Act, it is also expected that issues of school drop out, out-of-school children, quality of education and availability of trained teachers would be addressed in the short to medium term plans.

The enforcement of the Right to Education Act brings the country closer to achieving the objectives and mission of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA) and hence is a historic step taken by the Government of India.