Right to education : Essence of the Constitution

Right to education : Essence of the Constitution

By Pankaj | October 20, 2024

Man has certain essential , basic, natural and inalienable rights or freedoms and it is the functions of the state in order that human liberty may be preserved , human personality developed, and an effective social and democratic life promoted, to recognize these rights  and freedoms and allow them a free play. The underlying idea in promoting certain basic and Fundamental Rights is to ensure that a person may have minimum guaranteed freedom and to take them out of the reach of transient political majorities. In entrenching the said rights it is meant that the guaranteed rights cannot be taken away by an ordinary law. The modern need of guaranteeing the said rights may be traced back to the constitution of USA drafted in 1787. The US constitution was the first modern Constitution to give concrete shape to the concept of human rights by putting them into the constitution and making them justiciable.

Right to Education is enshrined under Article 21A which provides for free and compulsory education to children.The Right to Education serves as a building block to ensure that every child has his or her right to get a quality elementary education which is utmost for their development.

Originally Part IV of Indian Constitution, Article 45 and Article 39 (f) of DPSP, had a provision for state funded as well as equitable and accessible education.

  • The first official document on the Right to Education was Ramamurti Committee Report in 1990.
  • In 1993, the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in the Unnikrishnan JP vs State of Andhra Pradesh & Others held that Right to Education is a Fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
  • Tapas Majumdar Committee (1999) was set up which inserted  Article 21A.
  • The 86th amendment to the constitution of India in 2002, provided Right to Education as a fundamental right in part-III of the Constitution.
  • The same amendment inserted Article 21A which made Right to Education a fundamental right for children between 6-14 years.
  • The 86th amendment provided for a follow-up legislation for Right to Education Bill 2008 and finally Right to Education Act 2009 was implemented.
  • The RTE Act aims to provide primary education to all children aged between 6 to 14 years.
  • The said act mandates 25% reservation for disadvantaged sections of the society where disadvantaged groups include:
    • SCs and STs
    • Socially Backward Class
    • Differently abled people
  • It also makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.
  • It also mentions about sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.
  • It lays down the norms and standards related to:
    • Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs)
    • Buildings and infrastructure
    • School-working days
    • Teacher-working hours
  • It had a clause for “No Detention Policy” which has been removed under The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2019.
  • It also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief.
  • It provides for the appointment of teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.
  • It strictly prohibits:-
    • Physical punishment and mental harassment
    • Screening procedures for admission of children
    • Capitation fee
    • Private tuition by teachers
    • Running of schools without recognition
  • It focuses on making the child free from fear, trauma and anxiety by creating such kind of an atmosphere.
  • The RTE Act has successfully managed to increase enrolment in the upper primary level (Class 6-8).
  • Stricter infrastructure norms resulted in improved school infrastructure, especially in rural areas.
  • More than 3.3 million students secured admission under 25% quota norm under RTE.
  • It made education inclusive and accessible nationwide.
  • Removal of “no detention policy” has brought accountability in the elementary education system.
  • The Government has also launched an integrated scheme, for school education named as Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, which subsumes the three schemes of school education:-
    • Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
    • Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
    • Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education (CSSTE).

Article 21 reads as

“No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law.”

According to Bhagwati, J., Article 21 “embodies a constitutional value of supreme importance in a democratic society.” Iyer, J., has characterized Article 21 as “the procedural magna carta protective of life and liberty.

This right has been held to be the heart of the Constitution, the most organic and progressive provision in our living constitution, the foundation of our laws.

Article 21 can only be claimed when a person is deprived of his “life” or “personal liberty” by the “State” as defined in Article 12. Violation of the right by private individuals is not within the preview of Article 21.

Article 21 secures two rights:

1)  Right to life, and

2) Right to personal liberty.

Meaning and Concept of ‘Right to Life’

Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950 provides that, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” ‘Life’ in Article 21 of the Constitution is not merely the physical act of breathing. It does not connote mere animal existence or continued drudgery through life. It has a much wider meaning which includes right to live with human dignity, right to livelihood, right to health, right to pollution free air, etc.

Right to life is fundamental to our very existence without which we cannot live as a human being and includes all those aspects of life, which go to make a man’s life meaningful, complete, and worth living. It is the only article in the Constitution that has received the widest possible interpretation. Under the canopy of Article 21, so many rights have found shelter, growth, and nourishment. Thus, the bare necessities, minimum and basic requirements that is essential and unavoidable for a person is the core concept of the right to life.

In the case of Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh AIR 1963 SC 1295, the Supreme Court quoted and held that:

By the term “life” as here used something more is meant than mere animal existence. The inhibition against its deprivation extends to all those limbs and faculties by which life is enjoyed. The provision equally prohibits the mutilation of the body by amputation of an armored leg or the pulling out of an eye, or the destruction of any other organ of the body through which the soul communicates with the outer world.

In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration AIR 1978 SC 1675 , the Supreme Court reiterated with the approval the above observations and held that the “right to life” included the right to lead a healthy life so as to enjoy all faculties of the human body in their prime conditions. It would even include the right to protection of a person’s tradition, culture, heritage and all that gives meaning to a man’s life. It includes the right to live in peace, to sleep in peace and the right to repose and health.

Article 32 is known as the “spirit of the constitution and exceptionally heart of it” by Dr. Ambedkar. Article 32 makes the Supreme Court the safeguard and underwriter of the major rights. Further, the capacity to issue writs goes under the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. This implies an individual may approach SC directly against the violation of their fundamental rights

Writ jurisdiction

A precept in writing, couched in the form of a letter, running in the name of the king, president, or state, issuing from a court of justice, and sealed with its seal, addressed to a sheriff or other officer of the law, or directly to the person whose action the court desires to command, either as the commencement of a suit or other proceeding or as incidental to Its progress, and requiring the performance of a specified act, or giving authority and commission to have it done.

Habeas Corpus

  •  This writ is in the nature of an order calling upon the person who has detained another to produce the latter before the Court, in order to let the Court, know on what ground he has been confined and to set him free if there is no legal justification for the confinement. The principle on which Habeas Corpus function is that a person illegally detained in confinement without legal proceedings is entitled to seek the remedy of habeas corpus

Mandamus

  • “A writ issued by a court to compel performance of a particular act by lower court or a governmental officer or body, to correct a prior action or failure to act.” It is used for enforcement of various rights of the public or to compel the public statutory authorities to discharge their duties and to act within the bounds. It may be used to do justice when there is wrongful exercise of power or a refusal to perform duties.
  • The rule of Locus Standi is strictly followed in while issuing writ of mandamus. The petitioner has to prove that he has a right to enforce public duty in his favour. The mandamus is “neither a writ of course nor a writ of right but that it will be granted if the duty is in nature of public duty and it especially affects the right of an individual, provided there is no more appropriate remedy.”

Prohibition

  •  A writ of prohibition, also known as a ‘stay order’, is issued to a lower court or a body to stop acting beyond its powers.
  • The basic purpose is to secure that the jurisdiction of an inferior court or tribunal is properly exercised and that it does not usurp the jurisdiction which it does not possess. Thus, writ of prohibition is available during the pendency of the proceedings and before the order is made.Prohibition is a writ of preventive nature. The principle of this is ‘Prevention is better than cure’.

Certiorari

  • The writ of certiorari issued to quash a decision after the decision is taken by a lower tribunal while prohibition is issuable before the proceedings are completed. The law has always been, that a writ of certiorari is issued against the acts or proceedings of a judicial or quasi-judicial body conferred with power to determine question affecting the rights of subjects and obliged to act judicially. Writ of certiorari is not only negative in the sense that it is used to quash an action but it contains affirmative action as well. It is preventive as well as curative in nature.

Quo Warranto

  • The writ of Quo Warranto (by what warrant) is issued to inquire about the legality of a claim by a person or authority to act in a public office, which he or she is not entitled to. The writ of Quo Warranto is a mode of judicial control in the sense that the proceedings review the actions of the administrative authority which appointed the person.

The writ is issued to the person ousting him from holding a public post to which he has no right. It is used to try the civil right to a public post. Accordingly, the use of the writ is made in cases of usurpation of a public office and removal of such usurper. Conversely, it protects citizen from being deprived of public office to which he may have a right. A petition for the writ of Quo Warranto can be filed by any person though he is not an aggrieved person.

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