DR RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL

LAW UNIVERSITY

SUBJECT – Law and Education

2022-23

Submission for course program

RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR THE WORKING CLASS
Case Study: Slum Dwellers
Submitted to Submitted By
Dr. Shashank Shekhar Tanurag Ghosh

Assistant Professor Roll No. 180101147

B.A.LLB.(Hons)-2023

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 Acknowledgement

I express my gratitude and deep regards to my teacher for the subject Dr. Shashank Shekhar
for giving me such a challenging topic and also for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and
constant encouragement throughout the course of this thesis.

I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to my seniors in the college
for their cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped me in completing
this task through various stages.

I am obliged to the staff members of the Madhu Limaye Library, for the timely and valuable
information provided by them in their respective fields. I am grateful for their cooperation
during the period of my assignment.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my family and friends for their constant encouragement without
which this assignment would not have been possible.

- Tanurag Ghosh

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 Table Of Contents

Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................................... 2
Table Of Contents .................................................................................................................... 3
Synopsis...................................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 5
What is Right to Education ? ...............................................................................................................5
International legal basis ......................................................................................................................6
Evolution of Right to Education in India .................................................................................. 6
History .................................................................................................................................................6
Passage ................................................................................................................................................7
The Kerala Education Bill, 1957 .........................................................................................................7
Main Tenets of the Act ........................................................................................................................7
The RTE Act provides for the: .............................................................................................................8
(i) Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a
neighbourhood school. ........................................................................................................................8
The Sarva Sikasha Abhiyan ....................................................................................................... 9
Problems faced by the slum-dwellers ...................................................................................... 10
Complementing schemes in the success of the Right to Education .......................................... 11
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) ................................................................................11
Mid-Day Meal Scheme ......................................................................................................................12
Effectiveness of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act,2009 .......... 13
Future Needs and Conclusion .................................................................................................. 14
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 16
b. Rai,Vinay&Narendra Kumar ,’ Right to Education: The Way Forward, 2007,Perfect
Publications ............................................................................................................................. 16

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 Synopsis

a. Introduction – This tells the reader about what he can expect from the project and
lays down the ground for the project.
b. What is Right to Education ? – To start from the basics on what does RTE mean
and why is it so important in the history of legislation?
c. Evolution of RTE in India.- It deals with the factors and the milieu which led to the
formation of the Act.
d. Main tenets of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act.
e. The SSA - This is the flagship scheme of the whole act and the project shall be
incomplete without its discussion.
f. Problems faced by the slum-dwellers and how the tenets of the Act address them-
The slum-dwellers are the target group of the Act hereby making it necessary to study
the act with reference to them.
g. Government schemes complementing RTE-SSA for the benefit of the slum-
dwellers namely the ICDS and the mid-day meal scheme – The act needs to work
in-tandem with the other schemes such as the mid-day meal scheme and the ICDS
scheme so that it becomes effective.
h. Progress in Educational Indicators with respect to various NGO reports and the
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) – To ascertain the success of the
scheme the reports of ground-level workers such as NGOs and the annual status of
Educational Report.
i. Futures areas needing revamping and Conclusion – These are the areas wherein I
have found shortcomings in the Act and how to overcome them. This project is then
ended with a conclusion.

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 Introduction

The day of the enforcement of the Right to Education Act or also known as the Right of
Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act,2009 was a historic one for the people of
India. It was this day after which the Right to Education was to be accorded the same legal
status as the Right to Life as provided by the Indian constitution by Art.21A.

The right to education bill was passed by the Indian parliament with very high hopes of it
being successful and that it would play a pivotal role in helping India attain a cent percent
literacy rate. Under this act every child of the age group of 6-14 will be provided with 8years
of elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in his/her vicinity and any cost
preventing his to do so shall be borne by the state which shall have the responsibility of
enrolling the child as well as ensuring attendance. This ambitious bill passed by the central
government had no strings or clauses attached to it, in its tenets was also stated that no child
shall be denied admission for want of documents, or if the admission cycle of the school is
over or if the child has even failed the admission test.

This paper describes the stages through which the RTE Act has come into effect and how, in
the course of implementing the RTE Act, the existing system has been changed and aligned
with a view to fulfil its objectives. It also discusses how various other important schemes of
the central and state governments play a crucial role in achieving the objectives of the RTE.
The said act was for the benefit of the poor, homeless and needy or what some refer to as
slum-dwellers. Here we shall study the RTE act and pass references on its effectiveness on
the slum-dwellers who were the primary target of the act.

The Kerala Education Bill,1957 to regulate the education sector shall also be discussed in
brief. The crux of the project lies in various NGO reports, Annual Status of Education Report
(ASER) and various other statistics put by respective state governments in the public domain.

What is Right to Education ?

The right to education is a universal entitlement to education, recognized in the International

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a human right that includes the right to
free, compulsory primary education for all, an obligation to develop secondary
education accessible to all, in particular by the progressive introduction of free secondary
education, as well as an obligation to develop equitable access to higher education, ideally by
the progressive introduction of free higher education. The right to education also includes a
responsibility to provide basic education for individuals who have not completed primary
education. In addition to these access to education provisions, the right to education

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encompasses the obligation to rule out discrimination at all levels of the educational system,
to set minimum standards and to improve quality of education.

International legal basis

The right to education is a law in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights and Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights. The right to education has been reaffirmed in the 1960 UNESCO Convention
against Discrimination in Education, the 1981 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, and the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities.

In Europe, Article 2 of the first Protocol of 20 March 1952 to the European Convention on
Human Rights states that the right to education is recognized as a human right and is
understood to establish an entitlement to education. According to the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the right to education includes the right to free,
compulsory primary education for all, an obligation to develop secondary education
accessible to all in particular by the progressive introduction of free secondary education, as
well as an obligation to develop equitable access to higher education in particular by the
progressive introduction of free higher education. The right to education also includes a
responsibility to provide basic education for individuals who have not completed primary
education. In addition to these access to education provisions, the right to education
encompasses also the obligation to eliminate discrimination at all levels of the educational
system, to set minimum standards and to improve quality.

Evolution of Right to Education in India

History
Present Act has its history in the drafting of the Indian constitution at the time of
Independence but is more specifically to the Constitutional Amendment of 2002 that included
the Article 21A in the Indian constitution making Education a fundamental Right. This
amendment, however, specified the need for a legislation to describe the mode of
implementation of the same which necessitated the drafting of a separate Education Bill.
A rough draft of the bill was composed in year 2005. It received much opposition due to its
mandatory provision to provide 25% reservation for disadvantaged children in private
schools. The sub-committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education which prepared the
draft Bill held this provision as a significant prerequisite for creating a democratic and
egalitarian society. Indian Law commission had initially proposed 50% reservation for
disadvantaged students in private schools.

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Passage
The bill was approved by the cabinet on 2 July 2009. Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 20 July
2009 and the Lok Sabha on 4 August 2009. It received Presidential assent and was notified as
law on 26 August 2009 as The Children's Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act. The
law came into effect in the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1
April 2010, the first time in the history of India a law was brought into force by a speech by
the Prime Minister. In his speech, Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India stated that, "We
are committed to ensuring that all children, irrespective of gender and social category, have
access to education. An education that enables them to acquire the skills, knowledge, values
and attitudes necessary to become responsible and active citizens of India."

The Kerala Education Bill, 1957

The Education Bill was introduced in the Kerala assembly by Professor Joseph Mundasseri,
who was then the education minister for the first elected (1957) Communist Party of
India government. This bill was aimed at eradicating the malpractices prevalent in the private
sector educational institutions, and attempted to regulate the educational institutions'
function, including standardizing syllabi and pay structures. The religious organizations,
along with opposition parties, including Indian National Congress, started the liberation
struggle to overthrow the E. M. S. Namboodiripad government. This bill, along with Land
Reforms Ordinance and other agricultural legislation, imparted drastic changes in Kerala
society, and paved the way for the natural death of feudalistic society in Kerala.
The Education Bill sought to regulate appointments and conditions of teachers. Salaries of
teachers were to be paid through the treasury. There was a provision of takeover of
management of educational institutions, which arguably violated the
constitution. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal and the bill received the
assent of the president of India.
Even though the Education Bill failed to pass through the Assembly, many of its provisions
were later implemented by subsequent governments with amendments.
This bill is dubbed as the inspiration which paved way for the Right of Children for Free and
Compulsory Education Act,2009.

Main Tenets of the Act

The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the
Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age
group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by
law, determine. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009,
which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that
every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality
in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.
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Article 21-A and the RTE Act came into effect on 1 April 2010. The title of the RTE Act
incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’. ‘Free education’ means that no child, other
than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported
by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses
which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local
authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary
education by all children in the 6-14 age group. With this, India has moved forward to a
rights based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to
implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in
accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.

The RTE Act provides for the:

(i) Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary
education in a neighbourhood school.
(ii) It clarifies that ‘compulsory education’ means obligation of the appropriate government to
provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and
completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group. ‘Free’
means that no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may
prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.

(iii) It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.

(iv) It specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authority
and parents in providing free and compulsory education, and sharing of financial and other
responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.

(v) It lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs),
buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours.

(vi) It provides for rational deployment of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil
teacher ratio is maintained for each school, rather than just as an average for the State or
District or Block, thus ensuring that there is no urban-rural imbalance in teacher postings. It
also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than
decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster
relief.

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(vii) It provides for appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the
requisite entry and academic qualifications.

(viii) It prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental harassment; (b) screening procedures
for admission of children; (c) capitation fee; (d) private tuition by teachers and (e) running of
schools without recognition,

(ix) It provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the
Constitution, and which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the
child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and
anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centred learning.

The Sarva Sikasha Abhiyan

In 1993, the Supreme Court recognised that the right to education was a fundamental right as
it was an inherent part of the right to life. The central government initiated the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA) in 2000, the most prominent centrally-sponsored scheme aimed towards
enrolment of all children in school, bringing out-of-school children to school, retention of
children at upper-primary level, and enhancement in learning achievement of students.
Several other programmes outside the ambit of the Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MHRD), including the Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDM) and pre-primary
education under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), were introduced to support
child education.

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.
Existing schools with inadequate teacher strength are provided with additional teachers, while
the capacity of existing teachers is being strengthened by extensive training, grants for
developing teaching-learning materials and strengthening of the academic support structure at
a cluster, block and district level.

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SSA seeks to provide quality elementary education including life skills. SSA has a special
focus on girl's education and children with special needs. SSA also seeks to provide computer
education to bridge the digital divide.

Problems faced by the slum-dwellers

The slum-dwellers encounter numerous problems in educating their children. The makers of
the act have adequately addressed the problem by various clauses included in it. The
problems faced by the slum-dwellers which I came across through the making of this project
were-

1. Travelling – The established government schools are generally located in the heart of
the towns and villages and make it difficult for the children living in the outskirts to
travel the long distances.
2. Bad infrastructure of the schools.
3. Nutritional drawbacks of the students
4. Lack of any positive incentives from the side of the government .

By way of changes made to the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan in 2010 and introduction of the mid-
day meal scheme in 1995 government has quite satisfactorily addressed the issues.

With a view to enhancing enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving
nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary
Education (NP-NSPE) also known as the mid-day meal scheme was launched as a Centrally
Sponsored Scheme on 15th August 1995.

in the SSA norms effected by the executive committee of the SSA in January 2010 are:

(a) School to be established ensured within the limits of the neighbourhood as laid down by
the state government pursuant to the RTE Act.

(b) All existing EGS centres that have been functioning for two years or more to be upgraded
to regular schools, or closed down. No new EGS centres to be sanctioned

from 2010–11 onwards;

(c) Special training to be carried out for age-appropriate enrolment of out-of-school and
dropout children through residential and non-residential courses;

(d) School infrastructure norms to include libraries, including a one-time grant for books
worth `3,000 for primary schools and `10,000 for upper primary schools;

(e) Ceiling on school repairs up to a maximum of 5 per cent of the existing schools for each
district in a particular year, which inhibited the demand for repairs, removed;

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 Complementing schemes in the success of the
Right to Education

There are a few other schemes that are being implemented simultaneously by various
ministries/departments of the Government of India. Some of the requirements mandated
under the RTE also exist under certain other schemes of the Department of School Education
and Literacy, such as Teacher Education and Mid-Day Meal (MDM) schemes. Certain other
provisions of the RTE are sourced through convergence of agencies other than the MHRD,
such as facilities of drinking water and toilets for existing schools. Therefore, these schemes
directly and indirectly facilitate the attaining of the goal of UEE and fulfilling the mandate of
the RTE. In this context, a few prominent schemes are

(a) the MDM Scheme of the Department of School Education and Literacy for providing a
noon meal to children at the elementary stage of education;

(b) the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) and the Drinking Water Mission (DWM) under the
Ministry of Rural Development for providing drinking water and toilets

in schools;

(c) the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) of the Ministry of Labour to provide special
schools for child labourers withdrawn from work;

(d) residential facilities for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) children by the
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

(e) pre-primary education under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme
of the Ministry of Women and Child Development;

(f) the School Health Programme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; and

(g) Teacher Education of the Department of Elementary and School Education. A few of
these major schemes are discussed in this section.

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

One of the world’s largest programmes for early childhood development called the ICDS
scheme is being implemented through the Anganwadi system in India. The scheme was
launched in 1975 with the objective:

(a) to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age group of 0–6 years;

(b) to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the
child;

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(c) to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition, and school dropout;

(d) to achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation amongst the various
departments to promote child development; and

(e) to enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional
needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education. Keeping in view the
importance of the ICDS, recommendations have been made to include the key provisions of
this scheme in the proposed National Food Security Bill (NFSB).With the enactment of the
NFSB, the services under ICDS would become legal entitlements. The ICDS scheme services
are provided through Anganwadi centres (AWCs) in India. The total number of approved
AWCs in the country is 1.4 million out of which 1.3 million are functioning.

The following services are sponsored under ICDS to help achieve its objectives:

1. Immunization
2. Supplementary nutrition
3. Health check-up
4. Natal and antenatal care to women
5. Pre-school non formal education
6. Nutrition and Health information

Mid-Day Meal Scheme

With a view to enhancing enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving
nutritional levels among children, the Government of India has been making adequate
provision in the budget for the National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in Schools, popularly
known as the MDM Scheme. The scheme has had a beneficial impact on school participation
in terms of getting more children enrolled and encouraging regular pupil attendance. It acts as
a regular source of ‘supplementary nutrition’ for children as well and can help spread
egalitarian values. The MDM Scheme presently covers all children studying in Classes I–VIII
of government, government-aided and local body schools; National Child Labour Project
schools; and Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative and Innovative Education
(AIE) centres, including madrassas and maktabs supported under the SSA.

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 Effectiveness of the Right of Children for
Free and Compulsory Education Act,2009

It has been more than three years since the implementation of the Right of children to free
and compulsory education reason being that even though the act was passed in 2009 it was
only from 2010 that its implementation took place. Given below are few statistics of the
national advisory council and the annual status of education report 2013 which shall help us
ascertain the effectiveness of the act.

As per data provided by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, over time there has
been an improvement in the number of children who attended pre-school.

While 30 million children attended pre-school in 2010–11, the figure increased to 35.8
million in 2011–12. The evaluation of the ICDS by the Planning Commission, conducted
through the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in 2009, observed
that the scheme has positively influenced formal school enrolment and contributed to
reduction in early discontinuation among beneficiaries.

As per the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), 84.1 million primary
children and 3.36 million upper-primary children i.e., a total of 117.7 million children were
estimated to have benefited from the MDM Scheme during 2009–10. During 2010–11, 113.6
million children — i.e., 79.7 million children in primary and 33.9 million children in
upper primary — are expected to be covered in 1.2 million institutions.
Status of Progress 2006-2007 2009-2010 2010-2011
Primary Schools (in million 0.77 0.81 0.82
Upper Primary Schools (in 0.41 0.49 0.53
million)
Primary Enrolment (in 132.00 133.00 135.00
million)
Upper Primary Enrolment 47.50 54.50 57.80
(in million)
Elementary Enrolment (in 180.00 188.00 192.80
million)
Teachers in Government 3.60 3.90 4.19
Schools (millions)
Out of school Children 11.30 8.10 7.50

Gender Parity Index (GPI) has also shown significant increase, particularly at the upper
primary level. The primary level GPI improved marginally from 0.93 in 2006–07 to 0.94 in
2010–11. However, GPI at upper primary level increased from 0.87 in 2006–07 to 0.94 in
2010–11.

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 Future Needs and Conclusion
As mentioned previously, substantial spatial and numerical expansion of primary and upper
primary schools has been achieved with access and enrolment at the primary stage of
education reaching near universal levels, gender gap in enrolment being narrowed and the
percentage of enrolled SC/ST children being proportionate to their population. Nonetheless,
the agenda of universalising education at the upper primary stage remains unfinished. The
number of children — particularly children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections
— who drop out of school before completing upper primary education remains high, and the
quality of learning achievement is not satisfactory even in the case of children who complete
elementary education. Despite the fact that there has been a huge increase in the investment
and levels of physical and infrastructural progress in elementary education in the SSA
regime, and in the post-RTE regime in particular, the main objective of ‘learning’ is not
satisfactory. It is therefore imperative to look beyond the provision of infrastructure alone in
the pursuit of improved learning levels. While there is no denying the fact that school
buildings and teachers are important, it is equally, if not more, important to achieve the
desired quality of education and learning level of a child who completes primary education.
So far, the existing structure has not yielded full results in terms of learning outcomes. It is
thus imperative to do something more over and above what is already there today. It might
lead us to approach the problem a little differently. efforts even beyond school hours would
yield better results. From the recent trends in the incidence of tuitions, it can be inferred that
the rise in the number of private tuition is attributable to personalised efforts vis-à-vis the
generalised approach in school. Teachers must also get requisite motivation through
appropriate training on a continuous basis as well as financial incentives linked with the
learning outcome of their students. To implement these practices there is a need to start a few
pilots in select districts/blocks. Each pilot district/block could have a committee, flexible
enough to experiment upon various policies including hiring local teachers (on need-basis).
Depending upon need, this committee may advise and assist SMCs on the functioning of the
school. This committee could remain directly responsible for the desired parameters
including enrolment, learning outcomes, etc. In short, a model district/block needs to be
developed for the purpose of achieving the objectives and mandates (with timelines) of the
RTE. Once proven to be successful, the model districts may be replicated throughout the
country. A lot has already been achieved in fulfilling the RTE mandates. However, there are
still gaps between the RTE mandates/targets and the actual implementation/achievements.
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Available reports have pointed out a number of shortcomings and suggested various policy
interventions. If these suggestions are examined and adopted wherever necessary, the gaps
would soon disappear.

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 Bibliography
Books and articles-

a. Mehta,B.C.& Kranti Kapoor ,’Implementing Right To Education

Act’,2011,Subhashish Publishing house
b. Rai,Vinay&Narendra Kumar ,’ Right to Education: The Way Forward, 2007,Perfect
Publications
c. “The gazette of India”, September 21, 2013.

Web sources

a. www.Unicef.org , visited on 3March

2014,<http://www.unicef.org/india/ASER_6_pager_on_status_of_RTE_implementati
on_30th_Mar_2013.pdf>
b. www.Idfc.com, visited on 2March
c. Official web-site of Ministry of Human Resource Development , Visoted on 3March
2014,http://mhrd.gov.in/rte.
d. Indian Express’ web site, visited on 5March 2014<http://indianexpress.com/tag/right-
to-education-act/>
e. The times of India official web site, visited on 5March 2014,
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/right-to-education-act>

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