Right to Education

Introduction
India is one of the fastest developing countries in the 21st
century. With an abundant population of 365 million youth
aged between 10-24 years, India is supposed to have strongest
workforce in the upcoming years surpassing China as well.
Therefore it becomes very important to focus on this
percentage of population more, since it is going to be the
deciding factor of our future. We have to nourish it and
nurture it so that it grows to be productive and nation building
force.
One of the most important facilities that is basic and should be
provided to all is the education. India has a literacy rate of
74.04% which even though good is not good enough if we
dream of becoming a superpower. There is still major section
of population that is left without education due to reasons like
financial problems, unavailability of education centres, etc.
there are many who drop schooling after a few years without
completing it.
Since India is still working on its economy and cannot burden
it with higher education free for all, therefore currently the
government has worked towards ensuring free and
compulsory education to all the children between 6 to 14
years of age. The Constitution of India ensures this and the
right to demand so is embedded in various Articles.
Education Policy in different Countries
Afghanistan
Two education systems exist in parallel in Afghanistan.
Religious education is the responsibility of clerics at mosques,
while the government provides free academic education at
state schools. From age 7 to age 13 pupils attend primary
schools where they learn the basics of reading, writing,
arithmetic and their national culture.

Argentina
Education is highly valued in Argentinian society. The
Argentine National Council of Education sets a standard
curriculum that is followed by schools throughout the country,
because it is believed that a national education system
promotes unity. Kindergarten is optional for children aged
four and five. Mandatory education begins at age six and ends
at fourteen. Public primary schools are free, but there are no
public school buses and students must buy their own books
and uniforms.

Australia
Australia's education system is broadly divided into three
broad areas: primary school, secondary school and tertiary
education. Each of these areas features both public
(government-funded) and private (independently funded)
institutions, although the majority of private institutions also
receive some government funding. The Primary education is
for students who wish to study at primary or high school and
approved secondary school exchange programs. The students
can be enrolled at Private or Public schools starting from year
1 to year 12. One parent or guardian can accompany the
student or a guardian will be assigned to them by the school.

Switzerland
Switzerland certainly followed this trend, and recorded a
ranking of 14th in these world listings. In terms of
mathematics, the country achieved the eighth highest score,
and significantly outperformed nations such as the United
States and the United Kingdom. The nation's performance is
largely the result of a varied and flexible educational system,
as both the federal government and a total of 26 regional
cantons share responsibility for higher and tertiary learning.
Not only this, but the Swiss Financial Institution and Swiss
Banking School also provide advanced Ph.D. programs for
students, with an emphasis on teaching wealth management
and private banking.
This educational system is certainly not wasted in
Switzerland, as banks and lending institutions play a
significant role within the national economy. In 2009, the
country's financial sector employed an estimated 195,000
people, which accounted for 5.8% of the entire Swiss
workforce. Not only this, but Switzerland is also a world
leader when it comes to offshore private banking and wealth
management. Given that Swiss based banking organizations
UBS and Credit Suisse are both major forces within the global
financial market, they are also responsible for job creation on
a worldwide scale.

Canada
Canada was another nation to outperform the U.S. in the
World Education Rankings of 2010, with an overall placing of
10th and an unusually consistent performance across reading,
mathematics and science. In fact, this level of consistency and
reliability is also a significant feature of the Canadian
economy, and this was most notable during the aftermath of
the global recession. While the U.S. economy continued to
spiral downwards during the formative months of 2010, the
conservatively managed financial services sector within
Canada remained stable while offering enormous security to
its employees, businesses and citizens.

Finland
Ranking second among OECD registered countries; Finland's
students continue to excel as standard bearers for educational
excellence. Undoubtedly operating the single most innovative
and unique educational system in the world, Finland has
turned its back on the centralized and evaluation driven model
adopted by the majority of western nations. Although Finland
spends an estimated 30% less per student than authorities in
the U.S., 66% of all students attend college and enter into
higher education. In addition to this, 93% of Finnish students
graduate from high school, and this is nearly 18% higher than
the overall rate recorded in the U.S.
Given this and the fact that a further 43% of Finnish high
school students go on to study at vocational schools, there is a
huge opportunity for individuals to learn practical financial
skills that can be applied to the fiscal sector. There is also
ample opportunity for these skills to be utilized, as the
financial management sector grew to a total worth of more
than 1 billion euros in the decade between 2000 and 2011. As
of 2009, Finnish companies within the national financial
sector also employed a total of 14,554 staff across more than
5,000 offices, with finance and business services accounting
for 14.5% of the country's total workforce.

Education System in India

Education in India is provided by the public sector as well as
the private sector, with control and funding coming from three
levels: central, state, and local.
India has made progress in terms of increasing the primary
education attendance rate and expanding literacy to
approximately three-quarters of the population in the 7-10 age
groups, by 2011.1 India's improved education system is often
cited as one of the main contributors to its economic
development.2
There are various provisions in our constitution which provide
the citizens with the right to free education.
1. Free and Compulsory Education:
The Constitution makes the following provisions under
Article 45 of the Directive Principles of State Policy that,
“The state shall endeavour to provide within a period of ten
years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free
and compulsory Education for all children until they complete
the age of fourteen years.”
The expression ‘State’ which occurs in this Article is defined
in Article 12 to include “The Government and Parliament of
India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the
States and all local or other authorities within the territory of
India or under the control of the Government of India.” It is
clearly directed in Article 45 of the Constitution that the
provision of Universal, Free and Compulsory Education
becomes the joint responsibility of the Centre and the States.
In the Constitution it was laid down that within 10 years, i.e.,
by 1960 universal compulsory education must be provided for
all children up to the age of 14, But unfortunately, this
directive could not be fulfilled. Vigorous efforts are needed to
achieve the target of 100 per cent primary education. The
1
"Education in India". World Bank.

2
India achieves 27% decline in poverty, Press Trust of India via Sify.com, 2008-09-12
Central Government needs to make adequate financial
provisions for the purpose. At the present rate of progress it
may, however, be expected that this directive may be fulfilled
by the end of this century.
2. Education of Minorities:
Article 30 of the Indian Constitution relates to certain cultural
and educational rights to establish and administer educational
institutions.
It lies down:
(i) All minorities whether based on religion or language, shall
have the right to establish and administer educational
institutions of their choice.
(ii) The state shall not, in granting aid to educational
institutions, discriminate against any educational institution
on the ground that it is under the management of a minority,
whether based on religion or language.

3. Education for Weaker Sections:

Article 15, 17, 46 safeguard the educational interests of the
weaker sections of the Indian Community, that is, socially and
educationally backward classes of citizens and scheduled
castes and scheduled tribes. Article 15 states, “Nothing in this
article or in clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent the state
from making any special provision for the advancement of
any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or
for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes.”
Under Article 46 of the Constitution, the federal government
is responsible for the economic and educational development
of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
It states. “The state shall promote with special care the
educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of
the people and in particular, of the Scheduled castes and
Scheduled Tribes and shall protect them from social injustice
and all forms of exploitation.” It is one of the Directive
Principles of State Policy.

4. Equality of Opportunity in Educational Institutions:

Article 29(1) states “No citizen shall be denied admission into
any educational institution maintained by the State or
receiving aid out of State funds, on grounds only of religion,
race, caste, language or any of them.”
The Fundamental Rights of the Indian Constitution has also
adopted the fourfold ideal of justice, Liberty, Equality and
Fraternity. Our Constitution laid down that in the eyes of law,
everyone should have an equal status, to no one the justice be
denied, everyone should have liberty of thought, expression.
The fundamental right of equality clearly signifies that in the
eyes of law no distinction can be made on the basis of any
position, caste, class or creed. Side by side the right of
equality of opportunities to all is also provided. The equality
of opportunity is meaningless, unless there are equal
opportunities for one’s education.
The well-known Kothari Commission, 1964-66 recommended
that Central Government should undertake the responsibility
in education for the equalization of educational opportunities
with special reference to the reduction of inter-state
differences and the advancement of the weaker section of the
community.

Right to Education Act, 2009

It has been pointed out that the RTE act is not new. Universal
adult franchise is an important part in the act, was opposed
since most of the population was illiterate. Therefore there
was a basic flaw in the electorate and democratic principles
could not be fully achieved. Article 45 in the Constitution of
India was set up as an act: The State shall endeavour to
provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement
of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all
children until they complete the age of fourteen years.
As that deadline was about to be passed many decades ago,
the education minister at the time, MC Chagla, memorably
said: "Our Constitution fathers did not intend that we just set
up hovels, put students there, give untrained teachers, give
them bad textbooks, no playgrounds, and say, we have
complied with Article 45 and primary education is
expanding... They meant that real education should be given
to our children between the ages of 6 and 14" - (MC Chagla,
1964).
In the 1990s, the World Bank funded a number of measures to
set up schools within easy reach of rural communities. This
effort was consolidated in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan3 model
in the 1990s.
RTE takes the process further, and makes the enrolment of
children in schools a state prerogative.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act
or Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament
of India enacted on 4 August 2009, which describes the
modalities of the importance of free and compulsory
education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article
21A of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135
countries to make education a fundamental right of every
child when the Act came into force on 1 April 2010.
The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child
between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in
elementary schools. It requires all private schools to reserve
25% of seats to children (to be reimbursed by the state as part
of the public-private partnership plan) belonging to lower
caste or financially weaker section of society. Kids are

3
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is Government of India's flagship programme for achievement of
Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time bound manner, as mandated by 86th amendment to
the Constitution of India making free and compulsory Education to the Children of 6-14 years age group, a
Fundamental Right.
SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to cover the entire country and address the
needs of 192 million children in 1.1 million habitations.
The programme seeks to open new schools in those habitations which do not have schooling facilities and
strengthen existing school infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water,
maintenance grant and school improvement grants.
admitted in to private schools based on economic status or
caste based reservations. It also prohibits all unrecognised
schools from practice, and makes provisions for no donation
or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent for
admission. The Act also provides that no child shall be held
back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until
the completion of elementary education. There is also a
provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring
them up to par with students of the same age. Therefore the
complete focus is on providing primary education to as many
children as possible
The RTE Act requires surveys that will monitor all
neighbourhoods, identify children requiring education, and set
up facilities for providing it. The World Bank education
specialist for India, Sam Carlson, has observed: "The RTE Act
is the first legislation in the world that puts the responsibility
of ensuring enrolment, attendance and completion on the
Government. It is the parents' responsibility to send the
children to schools in the US and other countries."
The Right to Education of persons with disabilities until 18
years of age is laid down under a separate legislation - the
Persons with Disabilities Act. A number of other provisions
regarding improvement of school infrastructure, teacher-
student ratio and faculty are made in the Act.
Education in the Indian constitution is a concurrent issue and
both centre and states can legislate on the issue. The Act lays
down specific responsibilities for the centre, state and local
bodies for its implementation. The states have been
clamouring that they lack financial capacity to deliver
education of appropriate standard in all the schools needed for
universal education. Thus it was clear that the central
government (which collects most of the revenue) will be
required to subsidise the states.
A committee set up to study the funds requirement and
funding initially estimated that INR 1710 billion or 1.71
trillion (US$38.2 billion) across five years was required to
implement the Act, and in April 2010 the central government
agreed to sharing the funding for implementing the law in the
ratio of 65 to 35 between the centre and the states, and a ratio
of 90 to 10 for the north-eastern states. However, the centre's
share of the implementation expenses would now be 70%. At
that rate, most states may not need to increase their education
budgets substantially.
A critical development in 2011 has been the decision taken in
principle to extend the right to education till Class X (age 16)
and into the preschool age range. The CABE committee is in
the process of looking into the implications of making these
changes.

The Ministry of HRD set up a high-level, 14-member

National Advisory Council (NAC) for implementation of the
Act. A report on the status of implementation of the Act was
released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on
the one year anniversary of the Act. The report admits that 8.1
million children in the age group six-14 remain out of school
and there’s a shortage of 508,000 teachers country-wide. A
shadow report by the RTE Forum representing the leading
education networks in the country, however, challenging the
findings pointing out that several key legal commitments are
falling behind the schedule. The Supreme Court of India has
also intervened to demand implementation of the Act in the
Northeast. It has also provided the legal basis for ensuring pay
parity between teachers in government and government aided
schools. Haryana Government has assigned the duties and
responsibilities to Block Elementary Education Officers–
cum–Block Resource Coordinators (BEEOs-cum-BRCs) for
effective implementation and continuous monitoring of
implementation of Right to Education Act in the State.

Recent Landmark judgements

1) Society for Un-aided Private Schools of Rajasthan ...
Petitioner(s) versus U.O.I. & Anr. ...Respondent(s)4

The Supreme Court struck down the challenge of private

schools to the Right to Education Act (RTE) 2010,
upholding its constitutional validity through a majority of
chief justice SH Kapadia and Justice Swatanter Kumar.
Justice Radhakrishnan dissented from the view that a
fourth of seats in all schools, including private ones,
should be reserved for admission to economically weaker
students.

4
REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 95 OF
2010, AIR 2012 SC 3445 2012
The judgment, which was pronounced today, was
reserved on 3 August 2011, after the three judge bench
had given a prolonged hearing to the Society of Unaided
Private Schools and a batch of other petitions contesting
the RTE’s provision mandating the 25 per cent
reservation. The Act, which is operational in at least 19
states, envisages free and compulsory education for all
poor children aged between 6 and 14 years. The bench
has brought all educational institutions within RTE’s
ambit except for unaided minority institutions. It was
reported that the judgment will be operational from
2012-13 academic year but would not apply
retrospectively to any admissions or to resident students
in boarding schools. The private schools’ contention that
such mandatory reservation would drain their resources
was contested by the government, which promised
reimbursement to the extent of the reservation.

The judgment upheld the inclusive educational law

contested by 32 petitioners.

But the Bench have also held that the 2009 Act is not
applicable to unaided minority schools protected Under
Article 30(1) of the Constitution.
This was later overruled by the Supreme Court in
Pramati Education Trust case.
 2) Environmental & Consumer Protection Foundation v
Delhi (Supreme Court of India; 2012)

In response to a petition filed by an Indian charity, the

Supreme Court of India directed the governments of all
States and Union Territories to ensure that all schools,
whether private or state-run, provide proper toilet
facilities, drinking water, sufficient classrooms and
capable teaching staff. The court held that, under the
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act
(2009) and the Indian Constitution, central, state and
local governments have an obligation to ensure that all
schools, both public and private, have adequate
infrastructure. Adequate infrastructure includes safe
drinking water, toilet facilities for boys and girls,
sufficient class rooms and the appointment of teaching
and non-teaching staff.

3) Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust ® and Ors. Vs.

Respondent: Union of India (UOI) and Ors.5

Facts: Fourteen petitioners, mostly charitable

organisations that run private schools in Karnataka,
challenged the newly inserted Article 15 (5)6 [The
Constitution (Ninety-third Amendment) Act, 2005], the

5
WRIT PETITION (C) No. 416 OF 2012
6
Nothing in this article or in Sub-clause (g) of Clause (1) of Article 19 shall prevent the State from making any
special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or
for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission
to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State,
other than the minority educational institutions referred to in Clause (1) of Article 30.
 fundamental right to education under Article 21A7 and
the RTE Act before a constitutional bench at the
Supreme Court in 2013. Additionally, two parties
intervened in this challenge- minority aided institutions
and Azim Premji Foundation.

This petition challenged the insertion of Article 15 (5)

under the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, 2005,
Article 21A inserted by the Constitution (86th
Amendment) Act, 2002 and the RTE Act. A further
challenge was posed to the judgments of the Supreme
Court in Society for Unaided Private Schools of
Rajasthan and Ors. v Union of India and Anr. [(2012) 6
SCC 1] and Indian Medical Association v Union of
India & Ors. [(2011) 6 S.C.R.] on the grounds that these
benches were not competent to adjudicate upon a matter
involving substantial question of law under the
Constitution under Article 145 (3).

Judgement: the court held that the Constitution 93rd

Amendment Act, 2005 inserting Article 15(5) and 21A
do not alter the basic structure of the constitution.
Therefore both these provisions are constitutionally
valid.

Conclusion

7
21A. Right to education.--The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of
six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.