Suggestions on implementation of right to education under art.

21(A) of the Constitution of India

Arkadeep Sarkar(983090)
The right to education is recognized as a human right by the United Nations and is understood to establish an entitlement to free, compulsory primary education for all children, an obligation to develop secondary education accessible to all children, as well as equitable access to higher education. Education is a basic human right and has been recognized as such since the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The right to education is enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 21(A) of the Indian Constitution. Beyond the basic need for education to support ones self and family in later years, many social ills occur in the vacuum of free and accessible education. UNICEF underscored the link between child labor and a lack of education in their 2008 Education for All Global Monitoring Report. According to UNICEF, over 100 million children who account for 70 percent of all child laborers, work in agriculture in rural areas where access to schools, availability of trained teachers and educational supplies is severely limited. A lack of free education encourages sexual exploitation of children. Some orphans turn to prostitution to earn the money for school fees and, in the process, contract HIV/AIDS. For many parents who are dying of HIV/AIDS, the greatest worry on their minds is who will pay for the school fees, supplies and uniforms for their children once they have passed? No parent or child should face such terrible choices or worries. The link between education and public health is strong. Access to education affects HIV/AIDS infection rates, child survival figures and maternal health. According to the Global Campaign for Education, if all children received a complete primary education, as many as 700,000 cases of HIV could be prevented each year. An inextricable link exists between education and well-being. It is extremely important that girls have access to an education. For every additional year girls go to school, they receive 20 percent higher wages and suffer 10 percent fewer child deaths. Women with some formal education are more likely to seek medical care, ensure their children are immunized, be better informed about their childrens nutritional requirements, and adopt

improved sanitation practices. As a result, their infants and children have higher survival rates and tend to be healthier and better nourished. In On Liberty John Stuart Mill wrote that an "education established and controlled by the State should only exist, if it exists at all, as one among many competing experiments, carried on for the purpose of example and stimulus to keep the others up to a certain standard of excellence." The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "everybody" has the right to education, hence the right accures to all individuals, although children are understood as the main beneficiaries.