National Level Seminar on Right to Education
New Delhi September 10, 2008
The National Human Rights Commission is holding a seminar on Right to Education. The two-day seminar to be held on September 11 & 12, 2008, will hold discussion on a number of issues related to education.
Since 1994, the Commission has been advocating free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Further, the 86th Constitutional amendment passed in 2002, mandates that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine. The draft Right to Education Bill was circulated to the States in June 2006. Though, the Constitutional Amendment Act has been passed, yet neither the required notification under section (2) of the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2005, in the Official Gazette is made by the Central Government, nor there is a central law that makes this right justiciable. Yet every child upto the age of 14 years has a fundamental Right to Free Education as per the decision of the Apex Court and Article 141 of the Constitution strengthens this fact.
Given the ground realities, the Commission is deeply concerned about equity and quality of education, which leaves much to be desired. Significant gaps between urban and rural areas and between elite and non-elite schools exist. Besides, the backward districts and the tribal people still lag behind.
It is with this conviction, the Commission is organizing the National Level Seminar on Right to Primary Education. The Conference aims at materializing the goal of free primary education to all by confronting all the challenges and roadblocks. It would work towards ----- establishing education till the age of 14 years a fundamental right; addressing the operative problems and suggesting ways and means to overcome the identified issues; seeking an active participation of the local bodies to monitor and help in the effective implementation of the education program and ensuring Inclusive & Quality Education as an issue of rights agenda.
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The National Human Rights Commission is holding a seminar on Right to Education. The two-day seminar to be held on September 11 & 12, 2008, will hold discussion on a number of issues related to education.
Since 1994, the Commission has been advocating free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Further, the 86th Constitutional amendment passed in 2002, mandates that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine. The draft Right to Education Bill was circulated to the States in June 2006. Though, the Constitutional Amendment Act has been passed, yet neither the required notification under section (2) of the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2005, in the Official Gazette is made by the Central Government, nor there is a central law that makes this right justiciable. Yet every child upto the age of 14 years has a fundamental Right to Free Education as per the decision of the Apex Court and Article 141 of the Constitution strengthens this fact.
Given the ground realities, the Commission is deeply concerned about equity and quality of education, which leaves much to be desired. Significant gaps between urban and rural areas and between elite and non-elite schools exist. Besides, the backward districts and the tribal people still lag behind.
It is with this conviction, the Commission is organizing the National Level Seminar on Right to Primary Education. The Conference aims at materializing the goal of free primary education to all by confronting all the challenges and roadblocks. It would work towards ----- establishing education till the age of 14 years a fundamental right; addressing the operative problems and suggesting ways and means to overcome the identified issues; seeking an active participation of the local bodies to monitor and help in the effective implementation of the education program and ensuring Inclusive & Quality Education as an issue of rights agenda.
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