RTE Act Envisages Children Of Judges & Street Vendors Studying Together; Advances Fraternity & Equality: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that effective implementation of the 25 percent admission mandate for children from weaker and disadvantaged sections in neighbourhood unaided schools under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has the potential to transform India's social structure and must be treated as a national mission.

The Court said that the statutory mandate of Section 12 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009( RTE Act) is normatively ambitious in the sense that it envisages a common school system whereby all children, irrespective of their class, caste and gender, would attend the same neighbourhood school and learn together in an integrated, non-segregated environment.

A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chadurkar observed :

"Properly understood, this statutory design is normatively ambitious. It envisages elementary education for all children, across the spectrum of class, caste, gender and economic position, in a shared institutional space.It  makes it possible, normatively and structurally, for the child of a multi-millionaire or even of a Judge of the Supreme Court of India to sit in the same classroom and at the same bench as the child of an autorickshaw driver or a street vendor. This is the manner in which Section 12 seeks to concretise the constitutional principle of fraternity alongside equality and liberty."

It added that such a system is central to the project of democratising schooling and reducing entrenched social inequalities. 

"The emphasis on “neighbourhood schools” is rooted in the National System of Education, as elaborated in the Kothari Commission Report, which recommended a Common School System whereby all children, irrespective of social or economic background, would attend the same neighbourhood schools and learn together in an integrated, non-segregated environment. This model envisages the school as a common civic space that breaks down barriers of caste, class and gender, and thereby advances substantive equality and social justice."

In this case, the Court issued directions for the effective implementation of Section 12(1)(c),  which mandate that private unaided institutions and special category schools shall admit to Class 1 at least 25% of their strength students from economically weaker sections and provide them free education till the elementary stage. Such schools would be entitled to reimbursement at the per-child cost incurred by the Government.

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