'Right to Education' in light of various Constitutional & Legislative Mandates

In olden days food cloth and shelter were the basic necessities of any human being. But now apart from these, education is a considered as one of the basic need of life. Education is the prerequisite for a person's complete development. A nation cannot flourish unless its population is educated. Framers of our Constitution were aware of it and hence Educational rights were recognised and incorporated in our Indian constitution. Initially Education was put in Part IV (Directive Principle of State Policy). Article 39, Article 45 etc provides for free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in such manner as the state may by law determine. Even our Indian Judiciary in Mohini Jain’s case and Unnikrishnan’s case held that right to education is a fundamental right of the children under Article 21 of the constitution. Later on Article 21A and Article 51A (k) (Fundamental Duties) were added by Constitutions (86th Amendment) Act 2002. Thus now ‘Right To education’ is one of the Fundamental Right. Through this chapter, the author wants to depict the constitutional provisions and certain other amendments which resulted in the enactment of various educational programmes and the ‘Right to Education Act (2009)’