· The 86th Constitutional Amendment 2002
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The passage in parliament of the 93rd
Constitutional Amendment Bill (which had actually started life as the 83rd
Constitutional Amendment Bill) resulted in the 86th Constitutional
Amendment.
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Note that the 86th Constitutional Amendment
and the 83rd and 93rd Constitutional Amendment Bills all
refer to the same thing.
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Makes education a fundamental right. Earlier
it used to be a non-judiciable Directive Principle of State Policy.
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The most important part
of this amendment is the introduction of a new article as part of the
fundamental right to freedom. The new article – Article 21A – states “The
State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of
six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.”
The full wording can be found here.
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At first glance the 86th
Constitutional Amendment appears to be clear-cut and appears to represent a
gigantic leap forward for basic education.
However, there are many issues still to be determined.
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The words “in such manner as the State may,
by law, determine” mean that the fundamental right is not absolute. The “by
law” referred to above is still in the process of being framed. For example,
the forthcoming law could potentially dilute the definition of “school” or
“teacher” in such a way as to make the education almost useless. The proposed
legislation on free and compulsory has already gone through a couple of drafts.
A short history of this legislation is given here.
The second draft of the legislation can be found here.
A few more iterations are expected. The body charged with drafting the new
legislation is the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE). Information about this body can be found here.
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Here are some articles describing some of the
issues involved.
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A
good listing of the issues and debates
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From the Hindu Business Line
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Supreme Court Judgments – Even prior to the 86th
Constitutional Amendment various Supreme Court judgments have established that
the right to education is an implied fundamental right flowing from the
explicitly stated fundamental right to life and personal liberty.
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Unnikrishnan vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993)
is the most important Supreme Court judgment regarding basic education. This
judgment is the first major judgment to establish that that right to education is
an implied fundamental right. It states as follows. "The citizens of the country have a fundamental right to
education. The said right flows from Article 21 of the Constitution. This right
is, however, not an absolute right. Its contents and parameters have to be
determined in the light of Articles 45 and 41. In other words, every
child/citizen of this country has a right to free education until he completes
the age of 14 years. Thereafter his right to education is subject to the limits
of economic capacity and development of the State." The full text of the judgment can be found here.
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M.C. Mehta vs. State of Tamil Nadu (1996) is
another important Supreme Court Judgment. While dealing mainly with child
labor, this judgment also obligates the State to provide basic education. The full text of the judgment can be found here
or here.
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Bandhua Mukti Morcha vs. Union of India (1997)
is another landmark Supreme Court judgment in which the Supreme Court
established that “the right to education is
implicit in and flows from the right to life guaranteed by Article 21”. The full text of the judgment can be found here.
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Other Links of Interest