85. To give effect to the newly inserted fundamental right, i.e., Article 21A, Parliament enacted the RTE Act. The RTE Act breathed life into Article 21A by providing a comprehensive statutory framework to ensure access to free, compulsory, and quality elementary education for all children in the 6-14 age group.
86. As outlined in the Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008 (RTE Bill), the objectives of the RTE Bill read:
“The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008, is anchored in the belief that the values of equality, social justice and democracy and the creation of a just and humane society can be achieved only through provision of inclusive elementary education to all. Provision of free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality to children from disadvantaged and weaker sections is, therefore, not merely the responsibility of schools run or supported by the appropriate Governments, but also of schools which are not dependent on Government funds.”
87. Viewed holistically, the RTE Act-contrary to the commonly held belief-does not impose an onerous or excessive regulatory burden; rather, it lays down the bare minimum core obligations and standards that all schools [as defined in Section 2(n)] must follow to ensure that the constitutional promise envisioned by Article 21A is not rendered meaningless. They include requirements such as trained teachers, student-teacher ratio, adequate infrastructure, inclusive admission policies, age-appropriate common curriculum, etc. All these are indispensable to deliver quality elementary education.
88. At its heart, the RTE Act is an instrument for universalisation of education, which is rooted in the values of social inclusion, national development, and child-centric growth. It is aimed at bridging the gap between privileged and disadvantaged, and it ensures that every child, regardless of caste, creed, class, or community, is given a fair and equal opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive. The RTE Act is designed not to stifle institutional autonomy but to uphold a threshold of dignity, safety, equity, and universality in the learning environment for a child.
89. Born of Article 21A, the RTE Act is not merely another addition to the statute books. It is the living expression of a long-deferred promise. When the Constitution was first adopted, the right to education could find place only among the Directive Principles, tempered by the economic and institutional limitations of a newly independent nation; yet, the vision was never abandoned but merely postponed. It took the nation over half a century of democratic maturity, social awakening, and judicial insistence for this vision to be shaped into a fundamental right.
90. In this sense, Article 21A stands, perhaps, a shade taller than many other rights, not merely by hierarchy but by the weight of the journey it carries-a journey of struggle, consensus, and above all, a reaffirmation that right to elementary education is not charity, but justice.
91. Against this backdrop, if a conflict were ever to arise between the two competing fundamental rights, i.e., Article 21A and Article 30, it must be remembered that not all rights stand on equal footing when their purposes diverge and reconciliation is no longer possible. In such a scenario, Article 30, though crucial in preserving cultural and educational autonomy, must be interpreted in tandem with Article 21A, for the latter is not merely a fundamental right but we consider it to be the foundation upon which the other rights of the younger generation would find meaning and voice. Article 21A is not just a right in isolation, it is an enabler of other fundamental rights, a unifying thread that weaves together the garland of all other fundamental rights promised by our Constitution. Despite transition from Part IV to Part III of the Constitution, much of the object and purpose for introduction of Article 21A would seem lost if means to provide free and compulsory education, which is sought to be achieved by enacting the RTE Act, were withheld for minorities for no better reason than that the RTE Act abrogates their right protected under Article 30. Education for children aged 6-14 is foundational for their development and the broader goals of nation building. The right to speak freely could ring hollow, the right to vote could become mechanical and the right to livelihood could largely be rendered meaningless when the younger generation were to grow up and transition to adulthood. To deny Article 21A its rightful primacy is to reduce it to a skeletal promise-a right without fundamentals, stripped of the very essence that animates our constitutional vision.
92. Any interpretation that diminishes the scope or limits the application of the RTE Act must, therefore, be critically examined against the broader backdrop of the constitutional evolution as traced aforesaid.