By P. Vijian, NNN-Bernama,
New Delhi : India has enforced another landmark law — the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act — which ensures that basic education is made available to all Indian children, regardless of their gender and social class.
The new legislation enforced Thursday makes education free and compulsory for every child aged between six and 14 years, making education a fundamental right for Indian kids.
“The Right to Education Act will realise the dreams of many children across the nation. Education is the key to progress and will empower children to become better citizens of the nation,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a televised nationwide address.
Millions of children, especially in India’s 600,000 rural villages, who once did not have a chance to attend school, will now be able to benefit from the new law.
Manmohan said all minority communities and girls would be given top priority to education, with adequate funding allocated to state governments to implement the ambitious law to educate the masses.
Describing education as a passport to upward social mobility, Manmohan cited his own personal experience of how education had helped to bring success to his modest background.
“I had to walk a long way to school and studied in the light of a kerosene lamp. Today, what I am, I am because of education. So I want the light of education to reach all,” said the 77-year-old premier.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) estimates that nearly eight million Indian children, the majority of them girls, in the school-going age group are out of classrooms currently, but the new law enacted last year could change their fate.