Child Compulsory Education In India
- IJLLR Journal
- 16 hours ago
- 1 min read
Shubham Kumar & Bhavya Sahu, Lovely professional university
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the legal, historical, and practical contours of compulsory education in India. Beginning with constitutional provisions and landmark judicial pronouncements that recognized education as integral to human dignity, the study traces the evolution culminating in the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment), the insertion of Article 21A, and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE). It analyses the statutory framework, identifies operational and systemic challenges (access, quality, infrastructure, teacher shortages, exclusion and private- public tensions), and studies landmark case law shaping implementation and limits of the RTE (including Mohini Jain, Unnikrishnan, Society for Unaided Private Schools, and Pramati). A comparative snapshot with selected international models (Finland and the United States) highlights divergent policy choices. The paper concludes with critical recommendations to make compulsory education in India more equitable, inclusive, and effective. Primary sources (statute and judgments) and authoritative policy reports inform the analysis.
