- NEW DELHI: A law making primary education compulsory in India came into effect Thursday, opening the door for millions of impoverished children who have never made it to school because their parents could not afford the fees or because they were forced to work instead.
The new law entitles all children between the ages of 6 and 14 to a free education, regardless of their social status, gender or income level. Some 8 million children — mostly girls — are currently out of school, according to the UN children’s agency.
The law is expected to also help educate Dalit children, who as members of India’s lowest caste are treated as outcasts and are often barred from class.
For Congress President Sonia Gandhi, this comes as part of the “new deal” she has unveiled as National Advisory Council Chairperson, starting with the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which has been extended to cover all the 600 districts across the country and now the right to education. The Food Security Act is yet another legislation, which is still in the works.
According to sources, this involves humongous expenditure for teacher recruitment and enhancing school infrastructure across the country.
The center and the state governments would have to join hands to meet the challenge.
In his address to the nation to mark the historic occasion, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “I was born to a family of modest means. In my childhood I had to walk a long distance to go to school. I read under the dim light of a kerosene lamp. I am what I am today because of education. I want every Indian child, girl and boy, to be so touched by the light of education. I want every Indian to dream of a better future and live that dream.”
About a hundred years ago a great son of India, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, urged the Imperial Legislative Assembly to confer on the Indian people the right to education.
About 90 years later the Indian Constitution was amended to enshrine the right to education as a fundamental right.
Redeeming the pledge of giving all the children the right to elementary education, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, enacted by Parliament in August 2009, has come into force on Thursday.
The fundamental right to education, as incorporated in the constitution under article 21-A, has also become operative from Thursday.
— With input from agencies