The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, also known as the Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on August 4, 2009. The act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the age of 6 to 14 years in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. The key features of the RTE Act are:
- Free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighbourhood school.
- Obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance, and completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group.
- Regular surveys to monitor all neighbourhoods, identify children requiring education, and set up facilities for providing it.
- Reservation of 25% of seats in private schools for children belonging to weaker sections of society.
- Prohibition of all kinds of physical punishment and mental harassment, discrimination based on gender, caste, class, and religion, screening procedures for admission of children, capitation fee, private tuition centers, and functioning of unrecognized schools.
- No child pursuing elementary education shall be held back, expelled, or asked to pass a board examination.
The RTE Act aims to ensure that every child in India, irrespective of their caste, creed, gender, and socioeconomic status, gets a quality education. The act came into effect on April 1, 2010, and since its inception, there have been significant improvements in enrolment levels, equitable access, literacy rates of states, and education standards. However, concerns regarding the privatisation of education and educational inequalities remain.
