SSSSttttrrrraaaatttteeeeggggyyyy ffffoooorrrr GGGGiiiirrrrllll CCCChhhhiiiilllldddd EEEEdddduuuuccccaaaattttiiiioooonnnn FFFFoooorrrr AAAAnnnnddddhhhhrrrraaaa PPPPrrrraaaaddddeeeesssshhhh Dr MCR HRD IAP Campus Road No. 25, Jubilee Hills Hyderabad- 500 033 Table of Contents S.No. Particulars Page No. 1 Chapter-I 1-10 Right to Education a Constitutional Obligation and An International Commitment Chapter-II 11-29 2. Major Policies and Schemes paving way for Girl Child Education Chapter-III 30-43 3. Demographic Trends in Andhra Pradesh- Focus on Girl Child Chapter –IV 44-70 4. Reaching the Girl child- Access, Enrolment and Retention Chapter-V 71-82 5. Girl Child Labour- Forced Illiterates Chapter-VI 83-97 6. Quality Chapter-VII 98-100 7. Issues in Perspective Chapter-VIII 101-104 8. Strategies for Girl Child Education References 105 9. Chapter- I (cid:1) UEE – A Constitutional obligation (cid:1) Education for all- International conventions/ commitments/ declarations. (cid:1) Elementary Education- A Fundamental Right 1 1. Right to Education a Constitutional Obligation and an International Commitment Education is the basic requirement for human development and right to education is a fundamental human right. This fact has been recognized by our Constitution, various international conventions, and declarations. Every person irrespective of their sex, caste, creed religion should be provided with opportunities to avail education to attain complete human development. Education is a concurrent subject and the Constitution of India contains the following provisions concerning it. 1.1 Directive Principles of State Policy The Directive principles of state policy contained in the Part-IV of the Constitution are the directives for the State to follow in the manner of administration as well as in making laws. They embody the aims and objectives of the State and act as guidelines in the day to day functioning of the State but do not confer legally enforceable right. In recent years the importance of Directive principles has been raised by the judiciary, frequently as they are vital and are contained in the Fundamental Law of the land i.e., the Constitution, the magna carta of our country. The Directive principles concerned with education are: Article 45 The Article 45 of the Constitution states that “The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. This Article lays down State’s goal of providing free and compulsory universal education to all the children until the age of fourteen. This Article in essence promotes UEE which is evident from the age group mentioned. Article 46 Article 46 of the Constitution states that “The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation”. This Article speaks about the educational interests of the weaker sections of the society through affirmative action 2 These Articles have provided the justification for various judicial pronouncements in favor of right to education as a fundamental right. These have provided the platform for the UEE as basic human right. The Courts have gone a long way in promoting the right to education and making State responsible for the same which has led to the inclusion of right to education as the fundamental right in the long run. 1.2 Right to Education as a Fundamental Right The question arose for the first time before the Supreme Court in Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka1. The main issue before the Bench was whether it would be permissible for private but government recognized educational institutions to charge capitation fees for admission of the students. The Court while striking down the notification allowing such a differential treatment observed that: “The Constitution does not expressly guarantee the right to education as such as a fundamental right but reading cumulatively Article 21 along with the Directive principles of state policy contained in Articles 38, 39(a), 41 and 45 the Court opined that “it becomes clear that the framers of Constitution made it obligatory for the State to provide education for its citizens”. The Court argued that without making the right to education under Article 41 a reality, the Fundamental rights would remain beyond the reach of a large majority which is illiterate; the Fundamental rights including the freedom of speech and expression and other rights guaranteed under article 19 cannot be fully appreciated and fully enjoyed unless a citizen is educated and is conscious of his individualistic dignity. Right to life is the compendious expression for all those rights which are basic to the dignified enjoyment of life. The Court then went on to hold that right to education being concomitant to the fundamental rights the state is under a constitutional mandate to provide educational institutions at all levels for the benefit of the citizens. In this case the Court took an expansive view of State obligation to provide education to everyone at all levels. This case can be considered as a prologue to inclusion of right to education as a fundamental right in the constitution, but it placed an impossible financial burden on the State by making right to education an absolute right. As per this case the State is under obligation to provide education to all and have adequate number of institutions of higher and professional education as there may be need for. This case though expanded the ambit of right to life was not practical in its approach as it laid down a theoretical and idealistic duty on the State. 1 AIR 1992 SC 1858 3 The above issue came to be reconsidered in Unni Krishnan vs. State of Andhra Pradesh2 wherein a more realistic view was propounded by the Supreme Court. This is a landmark judgement as it lays forth a practical approach balancing the right to education as a fundamental right on one side and the burden on the State on the other. The Court had reiterated in this case that having regard to fundamental significance of education to the life of an individual and the nation, the right to education is implicit in and flows from the right to life guaranteed by Article 21. But the Court interestingly carved parameters within which the right is operational. The Court held that this right has to be determined in the light of Directive of Principles of State policy contained in Articles 41, 45, and 46. An important extract from the Supreme Court Judgement in the landmark this case is as follows 1. The citizens of this country have a fundamental right to education. The said right flows from Article 21. This right is, however, not an absolute right. Its content 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 fourteen years. Thereafter his right to education is subject to the limit of economic capacity and development of the State. 2. The obligations created by Article 41, 45 and 46 of the Constitution can be discharged by the State either by establishing institutions on its own or by aiding, recognising, and/or by granting affiliation to private educational institutions. Where aid is not granted to private educational institutions, and merely recognition or affiliation is granted, it may not be insisted that the private education institution shall only charge that fee as is charged for similar courses in governmental institutions. The private educational institutions have to and are entitled to charge a higher fee, not exceeding the ceiling fixed in that behalf. Therefore while granting right to education the status of a fundamental right the Court explicitly pronounced the limitations within which the right is operational. It clearly limited the state obligation to provide educational facilities as follows: (cid:1) Every citizen has a right to free education until he or she completes the age of 14 years (cid:1) Beyond that stage the State obligation to provide education is subject to the limits of the economic capacity and development of the State. Thus Supreme Court has interpreted and expanded the ambit of right to life to include right to education as in the words of the same Supreme Court Right to life does not mean mere animal existence but living with dignity. Education is an important facet in everybody’s life and Supreme Court has realized its role in shaping an human being from all angles to make it a fundamental right. It is true that most of the citizens in India are illiterates and not aware of their basic human survival rights, leave apart fundamental rights, educating them will change the scenario and make them ascertain their rights. The Supreme Court has rightly 2 1993 AIR SC 217 4 elevated the status of right to education to fundamental right to make the realization of achievement of Universalisation of elementary education. The above efforts of Supreme Court have been translated in to explicit inclusion of Right to education as a fundamental right by the Parliament in the Constitution of India. 1.3 Right to Education (Article 21 A) 93rd Amendment The founding fathers of the Constitution of India had not included Right to education in part – III of the Constitution as the situation of the country after independence was not conducive to grant such a right to its citizens. Making right to education a fundamental right meant a huge responsibility on the state as it did not have the sufficient resources at that time. Considering the economic status of the country at the time of its independence granting a fundamental right to education also meant that the state had to battle a large chunk of litigation against it filed for enforcing the fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution. But times have changed and India has progressed economically and is a sustainable situation than what it was at the time of independence. The government cannot still get away of its duty to provide education to its citizens because the quality of development of the country depends on the quality of its human resources. Educated citizens really shape the country’s future and it is one of the priorities of the State to ensure education to all its citizens’. Moreover the preamble to the constitution of India claims India to be Socialist and Secular republic, more so reason to take up the responsibility of creating avenues for resulting in an educated India. The Supreme Court of India considering all the above developments, had embarked on making education a fundamental right. The parliament following the foot steps of Supreme Court and considering all the above factors has provided a fundamental right to education to its citizens within the parameters of the limitations set forth in the Unni Krishna case. The Parliament has introduced Article 21 A which reads as follows: “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.” This Article clearly spells out the responsibility of the State to extent of providing free and compulsory education to all the children from the age of six to fourteen years. It vests the discretion with the state to decide the manner and means of achieving the same. 5 The key words in this article are (cid:1) Free and compulsory education; (cid:1) Age of six to fourteen; (cid:1) In manner as the state may determine; “Free and compulsory education” The article lays a duty on state to provide free and compulsory education. The word ‘free’ is very subjective and whether it covers only fees payable or includes also other incentives like uniforms, stationery, etc is not clear. The law should spell out in clear terns the ambit of the provision of free education. “Age of six to fourteen” Considering that early childhood care and development is an integral part of the overall education and well being of a child the age limit chosen is crucial as it determines the level of education in normal circumstances till the completion of class ten. In sense the State has taken up the responsibility of free and compulsory education in terms of levels of education till class X. It is well known that in order to pursue any further academic/vocational education a minimum level of 10th standard (SSC / SSLC) is expected in most institutions across the country. Further, there is no formal certification of schooling until 10th standard, in the current situation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified by India, which obligates the country to provide education to all children up to the age of 18 years. In light of the above facts, it is strongly recommended that the upper age limit of the fundamental right be revised as follows: "…up to the age of 18 years or completion of 10th standard, whichever is earlier. “In manner as the state may determine” The manner in which State performs its duty under this new 21-A vests with the State. The quality of education promised by the State as a part of Article 21 A should be on par with education provided in private schools. The quality of education should not be compromised and should match with present day challenges. The students availing the free state sponsored education should be equally competent as private school students and should not be deprived of any amenities by virtue of availing state sponsored education. The State should prepare a proper scheme and impart high standards of education. Right to education has been incorporated as a fundamental right in the Constitution with a limited scope. Thus above is the constitutional position of right to education in our country. 6 In addition to the constitutional mandate there exist various international conventions, declarations laying down the importance of education and the role of state in guaranteeing the same. The various international conventions, declarations mandating education are: 1.4 International Commitments Universal declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) UDHR of 1948 the basis for international human rights law recognizing the right of every child to have a healthy childhood with special care and assistance has laid down in Article 26 that “(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.” UDHR has declared education as a basic human right and therefore all human beings have a natural right to education. The United Nations declaration had only moral binding on its parties and therefore to have an enforceable character UDHR has been translated into two Conventions ICCPR and ICSER. ICCPR and ICSER While ICCPR deals with civil and political rights the latter deals with social economic and cultural rights. Both these conventions take after the UDHR and have mentioned in clear terms the right to education and the role of the state in guarantying the same. Article 13 of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights contains the right to education as basic human right. It recognizes the role of education in the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and that it should strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. There is a mandatory duty on the State to have formal education systems in place and to promote access to the same. UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (UNDRC1959) The UNDRC entitles every child to” affection, love and understanding, adequate nutrition and medical care, free education, free opportunity for play and recreation, a name and nationality, special care if handicapped, be among the first to obtain relief in times of disaster, learn to be a useful member of society and to develop individual abilities, be 7 brought up in spirit of peace and universal brotherhood, enjoy their rights regardless of race, colour, sex and national origin.”. The declaration is on the overall development of child into a complete human being in which education form major role. Convention on Child Rights, 1989(CCR) The CCR incorporates the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. The convention sets out the rights of children in 54 articles and 2 protocols. This convention gives out a broader definition of child as one who has not completed 18 years of age3, The core principles of this convention are: (cid:1) non-discrimination; (cid:1) devotion to the best interests of the child; (cid:1) the right to life, survival and development; and (cid:1) respect for the views of the child The Convention protects children's rights by setting standards in health care; education; and legal, civil and social services. The convention lays down an obligation on the parties to provide for all kinds of infrastructure for the development of children including administrative, legislative measures4. The convention rests a duty on the state to provide for educational facilities, social security and other benefits to the children. The CRC focuses on the healthy growing atmosphere for the children. It stresses on the right to education of the children as the basic human right and primary duty of the children. Articles 28 and 29 of the convention relate to child education and the obligation of the states in fulfilling it. The CRC deals with the child rights comprehensively and has laid a great importance on the right to education. Dakar Goals (2000) At the World Education Forum in Dakar (Senegal), the Dakar Forum agreed on six goals which were considered to be essential, attainable and affordable, given strong international commitment and resolve. Those goals were: to ensure, by 2015, that all children of primary school age would have more access to and complete free schooling of acceptable quality; that gender disparities in schooling would be eliminated; levels of adult illiteracy would be halved; early childhood care and education would be expanded; learning opportunities for youth and adults would be greatly increased; and all aspects of education quality would be 3 Article 1 of the Convention on child rights, 1989 4 Ibid Article 3 8