The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009

A nursery seat in a good Mumbai school can cost a family more than a year's rent, and parents queue for admission forms as if for a concert. Yet the Constitution promises every child between six and fourteen a free education. How does a promise in the Constitution turn into a seat in a class, and who can be blamed when the seat is refused? The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 is Parliament's answer.

In two minutes

The RTE Act, 2009 turns Article 21A into an enforceable right: every child aged six to fourteen may claim free and compulsory elementary education in a neighbourhood school, backed by duties on governments, local authorities, schools, teachers and parents.

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