Perceptions on Getting Children to Schools Before and After RTE Act <Special Issue : Right to Education>

The current article shows how until the enactment of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) the Indian State had never given a wholehearted commitment to make education a fundamental right. It traces the attitudes and perceptions of the protagonists for universal education and the arguments that had systematically thwarted any investment for universalisation of education in India. The RTE Act is a breakthrough, as it guarantees right to all children in 6-14 years age group in India, and makes it a State obligation to provide for it as per the Act. However its implementation becomes a challenge for an education system which over time, had developed practices to exclude children and had compromised children’s access to schools. The system has to radically transform itself to reach out to every child by law.