SAJAL DEB Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Right to Education became part of the fundamental rights contained in Part-III of the Constitution when the Constitution was amended by 86th Amendment Act, 2002 on 12.12.2002 by which Article 21A was inserted providing that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in such manner as the State may by law determine. This Article thus puts emphasis on not only free but compulsory primary education. To provide for a mechanism to implement this fundamental right, the Union legislature framed the Right to Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act, for short). However, long before the Parliament made these constitutional amendments and legislative enactments, the Supreme Court in case of Mohini Jain (Miss) v. State of Karnataka and others reported in (1992) 3 SCC 666 and in case of Unni Krishnan, J.P. and others v. State of Andhra Pradesh and others reported in (1993) 1 SCC 645 had recognized the right to education as a fundamental right flowing from right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This preamble was necessary because in the present petitions we are examining the vexed issues of the rights of the teachers, who are imparting primary and upper primary education in Government schools and are thus furthering the objective of free and compulsory education; of fair and equitable service conditions.

(2.) Even before insertion of Article 21-A in the Constitution, there were many provisions which manifested deep interest of the framers of the Constitution in the children of the country, their well-being and upbringing. Article 41 contained in Part-IV of Directive Principles of State Policy provided that the State shall within its limits of economic capacity make effective provisions for securing, besides others, the right to education. Article 45 provides that the State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years. Article 46 provides that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Thus the protection of the vulnerable sections of the society such as, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from social injustice and all forms of exploitation has been linked with promoting educational and economic interests of such weaker sections.

(3.) It is universally accepted that in the modern society education is perhaps the most important tool for betterment and progress of a person, class or the society as a whole. Without formal education a child will always struggle to face the harsher realities in later stage of the life.