This article has been written by Mr. Lovish Loona, a 1^st year BA. LLB. Student from Chanakya National Law University, Patna.

INTRODUCTION

Education is a very important aspect of anyone’s life, because it focuses on the overall development of an individual; by this, an individual becomes a responsible citizen of the nation, and responsible citizens are very much required for the success of any democracy; as with education they come to know of their basic rights and duties, basic morals and can very well ascertain between right and wrong, and they can even guide others to the right path. Even education is included as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN under the SDG 4 (Quality Education).

So, education must be provided to all. But, in India, education is not being provided to all as there are various constraints on children in India which do not let them get even basic education due to various factors like poverty, lack of opportunities in the remote areas, lack of interest of parents who are not fully conscious of advantages of good education, lack of good quality infrastructure and even the ratio of pupil- teacher ratio is very low in some of the areas of India. So, there is dire need to get them educated, and there have been various political and judicial debates around it. Now, a separate legislation for it has even been made, that is the Right to Education Act, 2009. But its origin can be traced back to various other provisions before it got the form of a legally enforceable legislation.

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS AND RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT, 2009

When the constitution was being framed, then the provision for education was added to it in the form DPSP (Directive Principles of State Policy) under the aegis of article 39(f) and article 45.

Article 39(f) says that “the children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment”. , while article 45 says that “The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years”.

So, the constitution makers did care about childhood education and they wanted the upcoming governments to make legislations in this regard. But as these provisions were added as DPSP, so they were non-justiciable, that is they could not be enforced under court of law. But later on, on the recommendation of the Tapas Majumdar committee(1999), the Right to Education was added as a Fundamental Right under Article 21A by the 86^th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002; and it was made into a legislation by the Right to Education Act, 2009, which came into force in 2010. This act was made particularly for the age group of 6-14 years. The act incorporated the expressions “free and compulsory”. These words signify that the child which has been admitted to a public school/government-supported school, must receive free education without any expenses that may prevent him from getting elementary education, and the term compulsory education casts an obligation on the appropriate government and authorities to ensure admissions of the children in the schools, particularly for the age group of 6-14 years. Firstly, it had a No- Detention Clause which was removed under The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019. The No- Detention Clause meant that the children upto the class 8 would not be held back even if they did not get passing grades. 6. The World Bank education specialist for India, Sam Carlson, has observed: “The RTE Act is the first legislation in the world that puts the responsibility of ensuring enrolment, attendance and completion on the Government. It is the parents’ responsibility to send the children to schools in the US and other countries.” The Persons with Disabilities Act, a separate piece of legislation, establishes the right to education for people with disabilities up to the age of 18.

VIEWPOINT OF INDIAN COURTS

The Right to Education can be traced back even through various case laws like in the case of Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka 1992 AIR 1858, the Supreme Court first held that, “although the right to education was not explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution, it is essential to the realisation of the fundamental right to life and human dignity under Article 21”. In addition, the Court found that “It [is] clear that the framers of the Constitution made it obligatory for the State to provide education for its citizens”. In its reasoning, the Court cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a number of cases that held that the “The right to life extends beyond “life and limb” and includes the need for basic necessities like food, shelter, and education”.

Further in the case of Unni Krishnan, J.P & Ors. v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. 1993 AIR 217, In this case, “the Supreme Court confirmed the decision in Mohini Jain v Karnataka – namely, that the right to education flows from the right to life and obliges the State to provide basic education to all citizens up to the age of 14. However, the decision limited the right to higher levels of education, which is subject to the economic capacity and development of the State”.

Further, in the case of Avinash Mehrotra v. Union of India 6 SCC 398 (2009), the Court decided that “there is a fundamental right to receive education free from fear of security and safety, and the right to education incorporates the provision of safe schools pursuant to Articles 21 and 21A of the Constitution. No matter where a family seeks to educate its children (i.e. including private schools), the State must ensure that children suffer no harm in exercising their fundamental right to education”.

CONDITION OF EDUCATION IN ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS

The first Primary school in the Islands was founded in 1881–1882 for the inmates and their children, beginning the evolution of education in the A & N Islands at the end of the 19th century. This school was established in a hut and given a two-story structure in 1890. It was a single-teacher institution that used Urdu as its primary language of teaching while adhering to the Punjab Education Department’s syllabi, curriculum, and code. Since 1895, this school’s enrollment has been growing to the point where the local administration was forced to open six other primary schools in and near Port Blair in 1900. One of these institutions, which continued to operate in accordance with Punjab Education Department regulations, was Anglo-Vernacular and was elevated to Middle School in 1904–1955. An educational inspector from Bengal visited the schools in the prison colony of the A & N Islands in 1905–1906. 

The National Policy on Education seeks to provide all children up to the age of 14 with free, obligatory, and satisfactory education. The goal of the department of education is to establish a primary school within 1.0 km of every settlement with a population of 150 or more, keeping this as the major thrust area. In rural areas without primary schools, non-formal education centres have been established.

In the 36 islands that make up the A & N Islands, there are 396 schools. 306 of them are run by the Department of Education, 2 by the Kendriya Vidhyalaya Sangatan, 2 by the Navodaya Vidhyalaya Samiti, 2 are aided schools, 2 are maintained by the Municipal Council, and 71 are privately run schools.24 of the 306 government schools are located in tribal communities. As of September 30, 2008, there were 85267 students enrolled in all of these schools, including 6018 aboriginal children. Five different languages—English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali—are used to deliver education. The CBSE is a partner with all senior secondary and secondary schools. 48.38 percent of students are female, and 56.6 percent of teachers are female. In the schools, there are 4726 teachers. 1:18 is the instructor-to-student ratio.

The administration is working tirelessly to boost enrollment and retention at the institution. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ population had an 86.63% literacy rate in 2011, according to the Indian census, which has remained stable over time. The rate is also higher than the 77.7% national average, which paints a favourable picture of the islands’ educational system. 

But still, the education system on the island, which is also a union territory, is not at par with the education system of other union territories of India like Delhi, Chandigarh, etc. probably because of the lack of employment opportunities in factories which discourage the people to further proceed for education, and also the environmental conditions have a lot to say about as this; as the tsunami of 2004 had greatly impacted the infrastructure facilities of schools, which also need a revamp. So, the co-ordination of the administration and the local population both is required for furthering the development of the education system at the island.

CONCLUSION

All in all, it can be said that education has an important say in a nation’s overall development and even internationally the significance of education has got limelight. And India has taken various steps in furthering education to be available to the common masses by making various initiatives like making Right to Education a fundamental right under Article 21A, and passing legislations like Right to Education Act, 2009, and also passing various schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, etc. But, still, India has a long road ahead in front it like in the case of far-off areas of India like Andaman & Nicobar islands, etc. Although the education system there has improved but there is always a scope for improvement.

REFERENCES

1. https://lawcorner.in/right-to-education-a-fundamental-right-article-21-a/#_ftn3
2. https://www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/India%20Supreme%20Court%2C%20Jain%20v%20Karnataka%2C%201992.pdf
3. https://www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/RTE_Avinash_Mehrotra_v_Union_of_India_%26_Other_2017_En_0.pdf
4. https://www.righttoeducation.in/know-your-rte/about
5. https://education.andaman.gov.in/History.aspx
6. https://lexpeeps.in/fundamental-rights-of-the-child-to-education-in-andaman-and-nicobar-islands
7. The Constitution of India,1950, Art. 21A.
8. The Constitution of India,1950, Art. 39(f).
9. The Constitution of India,1950, Art. 45.
10. The Constitution of India , 1950, Art.21A, inserted vide The Constitution (Eighty Sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 (w.e.f. April 1, 2010).

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