Education for all and to universalise it was our national goal after independence. The architects of our Constitution made education for all till elementary level between the age group of 6 to 14, a Directive Principle of State Policy enshrined in part-IV of the Constitution.
Thus it has become our constitutional obligation to put the ideals into practice which was later on translated into action by the Constitution (Eighty Sixth Amendment) Act, 2002.
Under Article-21 (A) right to education has now become a part of fundamental rights which speaks in unequivocal terms that “the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6-14 years in such manner as the State may by law determine”.
In view of the constitutional mandate Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act – 2009 was passed by the Parliament which came into force on April 1, 2010. Now, it is the responsibility of the State to act in that direction to make free and compulsory education universal.
It is worthwhile to mention that it is only in the case of JP Unikrishnan verses State of Kerala, the Supreme Court for the first time recognised the sanctity of such a non-justiciable right under Article-45 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court pronounced that the right to free education up to the age of 14 years of every child is implicit and flows from ‘right to life’ guaranteed in Article-21.
The Supreme Court has expanded the meaning of the word “Life” which means and signifies right to live with dignity and life is for a qualitative existence. Therefore, life without education to a certain level or standard is not worth the name.
It is necessary to mention that “Education” as a subject finds place in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and therefore, both the Union Government and States can legislate in respect of education. It is gratifying to note that universal elementary education was a part of national
programme of education for all which is in consonance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Charter of United Nations and covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right of Citizens of member countries.
Therefore, in view of the legislative mandate based on international human rights covenant significantly Sarba Shiska Abhijan (SSA) which India started was a time bound programme but it could not achieve the desired success to the extent possible.
It is unfortunate that due to lack of effective supervision both by the teaching staff and parents there were dropouts in large numbers from the schools in different parts of the country but, however, the SSA is still not a total failure. The question is how best the right to education would be implemented and effective and all sections of the society and more particularly, the needy, downtrodden and marginalised section of the society as well as the rural population can have access to the privilege.
With a sense of optimism, it is heartening to note that right to education will be meaningful if it is available, accessible, acceptable and adoptable to everybody. It must be free and education must be fully Government funded. There should be adequate infrastructure. Trained teachers should be appointed by the State to support effectively education delivery system.
It must be non-discriminatory and accessible to all. It must include all segments of society and particularly, the members of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe and Other Backward Classes.
That apart, the course content of education must be relevant, non discriminatory and culturally appropriate and it must be qualitative for the students. Besides this, the most important aspect is that the school and its environment must be safe and the teachers should have professional excellence.
Education, its teaching methods and curriculum should be broad-based and evolve with the changing needs of the society. Education can contribute meaningfully to challenging inequalities such as gender discrimination and can be adapted locally to suit specific contents.
It is only then the right to education will be a meaningful right for everybody and education for all will be dicta of civil society. To conclude, the Education for All Global Monitoring Committee Report-2002 states where the right to education is guaranteed, people’s access to and enjoyment of other rights is enhanced. It is not only a right in itself but also indispensable for the exercise of other human rights.
(Prof Das lives at 205, Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar, Mob: 9437022723)