5.

Article 38 enjoins the State to secure and protect, as effectively as it may, a social order in
which justice - social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of national life.
It enjoins, by appropriate statutory or administrative actions, that the State should minimise
the inequalities in status and provide facilities and opportunities to make equal results. Article
39(0) provides that the children should be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a
healthy manner and conditions of freedom and dignity; and that childhood and youth are
protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. Article 46 directs
the State to promote the educational and economic interests of the women and weaker
sections of the people and that it shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of
exploitation. Article 45 makes provision for free and compulsory education for children,
which is now well settled as a fundamental right to the children upto the age of 14 years; it
also mandates that facilities and opportunities for higher educational avenues be provided to
them. The social justice and economic empowerment are firmly held as fundamental rights of
every citizen.

Gaurav Jain vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. (09.07.1997 - SC): MANU/SC/0789/1997

12. Article 28 recognises the right of the child to education and with a view to achieving this
right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, the State shall in particular: (a)
make primary education compulsory and available free to all; (b) encourage the development
of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make
them available and accessible to every child and take appropriate measures such as the
introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need; (c) make
higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means; (d)
make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all
children; and (e) take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction
of drop-out rates. Article 29 envisages that the State Parties agree that the education of the
child shall be directed to: (a) the development of the child's personality, talents and mental
and physical abilities to their fullest potential; (b) the development of respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations; (c) the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural
identity, languages and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is
living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from
his or her own; (d) the preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the
spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples,
ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin; and (e) the
development of respect for the natural environment.

Gaurav Jain vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. (09.07.1997 - SC) : MANU/SC/0789/1997