In this blogpost, Sonal Srivastava, Student, Amity Law School, Lucknow, writes about right to education in India and few mandates of the Right To Education Act in India.

Right to education granted by Indian Constitution is a milestone in the way to building a strong and educated India. Education is a fundamental value of life; it is the way to bridge the gap between rich and poor. An educated person not only has a better livelihood but education also brings rationality in the thoughts of the individual and a rational person certainly brings change in the society, nation and the world at large. Many children were deprived of education because of their financial status and constraints but the amendment in 2002 in the Indian Constitution on which a law was passed in the year 2010 has brought right to education as one of the fundamental rights and states that the state shall provide free elementary education to all up to the age of 6- 14 years.

Right to Education in India

In the original enactment of the Indian Constitution, the education was a subject of state list, but an amendment was added in the year 1876 which brought education in the concurrent list under Article 42 of the Indian Constitution enabling both Centre and State governments to enact and legislate on the matters related to it.

The 86^th Amendment Act of 2002 brought education in the ambit of fundamental rights. The amendment was done after the landmark case of Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka[1], in which the state of Karnataka in the year 1989 issued a notification to charge exorbitant tuition fees from the students other than the government seat quota. Ms. Mohini Jain, who was a medical aspirant, filed a petition before the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court observed that “mention of ‘life and personal liberty’ in Article 21 of the Constitution automatically implies some other rights, those are necessary for the full development of the personality, though they are not enumerated in Part III of the Constitution. Education is one such factor responsible for overall development of an individual and therefore, right to education is integrated with Article 21 of the Constitution.

The 86^th Amendment has inserted Article 21 A in the Indian Constitution making education a fundamental right, and it states that the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of 6- 14 years in such manner as the state may by law, determine.

Right to Education Act has been enforced from 1^st April 2010. A few mandates of the act are as follows

1. Free education to children between the ages of 6- 14 years.
2. Education shall be the fundamental right of every child, and the state shall endeavor that every child gets an education.
3. Even the private institutions have to reserve 25% seats for weaker sections.
4. The act states that no school can deny admission, and they shall have trained teachers.
5. The schools shall have minimum facilities such as playgrounds, trained teachers
6. The state governments and local authorities shall build primary schools within walking distance of 1 km of the neighbourhood.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned things state that what the government and legislation have done to improve the status of education in India. But there is a bigger picture to it, that what is been done has it actually been implemented and if it has been implemented then why is the illiteracy rate so high in India? There is no control mechanism in RTE Act, 2010. Is the mandate of private institutions being actually followed? The answer would be no. The primary schools are the least equipped and in fact the condition of the most of them is pathetic. There is no proper sanitation, no trained teachers, and no facilities. In such a scenario, it becomes difficult rather impossible for children to study and no heed is paid for the improvement of the same. Recently the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench gave a ruling that the IAS officers and other VIPs should get their children educated in government schools. The rationale behind it was that in such circumstances the conditions of the school would get much uplifted rather than getting deteriorated. This is a welcome move but the question is that how many would follow it? Rarely a few! The legislation on education would take quite a few years more to run with pace and all that can be said is that we all need to keep striving for it catch its pace because an educated India would be a developed India and children are the future of a nation and an uneducated future would become a reason for the downfall of the country.

[1] 1992 AIR 1858