Beyond Access: Repurposing India’s Education System For Equitable Career Capability
Akchita Singh, Research Scholar, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.
Jaydeep Singh, Research Scholar, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.
ABSTRACT
India’s demographic advantage will yield inclusive growth only if education enables people to convert learning into dignified and sustainable work. Yet the legal architecture remains fragmented. Article 21A and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 guarantee elementary schooling, while vocational education, career guidance, apprenticeships and the transition from higher education to work are dispersed across non- binding policy, sectoral regulation and equality legislation. This paper uses doctrinal legal research, supported by policy data and an exploratory practitioner interview, to examine that gap. It reads the right to education with the guarantees of equality, dignity and occupational freedom and with the Directive Principles concerning work, education and distributive justice. It then evaluates the National Education Policy 2020, the Apprentices Act, 1961, disability and transgender-rights legislation, and the regulatory roles of the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education and vocational bodies. Indian constitutional jurisprudence has moved from access to education toward substantive equality, reasonable accommodation and institutional accountability, but it has not recognised a freestanding right to employment or employability. The paper therefore proposes a legally bounded ‘career-capability’ framework: an enforceable entitlement to non-discriminatory career information, exposure to vocational and experiential learning, reasonable accommodation, transparent outcome data and accountable education-to-work pathways, without promising a job to every graduate. This approach would convert existing constitutional and statutory duties into measurable institutional obligations while respecting federalism, institutional autonomy and labour-market uncertainty.
Keywords: Right to Education; Employability; Career Counselling; Vocational Education; Substantive Equality; Reasonable Accommodation; Demographic Dividend; India.
