Will we take this opportunity of India at 75 and reflect and allow education to become an instrument of social change or make some of us feel disheartened again after 25 years about 100 years of unequal education?
When India became independent in 1947, Indian leaders were aware of the dismal state of education in the country. Crude literacy in undivided India was only 16 percent because of the low penetration of basic education, which could be attributed not only to the British government's apathy towards the development of the Indian masses but also to the culture of denial of education to the underprivileged sections of society, including women. Therefore, while enacting the Constitution, pro-education and anti-caste groups demanded that education be made a fundamental right. However, others were not interested in changing the status quo, citing the non-availability of resources to fulfil a constitutional commitment. In this competing political atmosphere, the Constituent Assembly in 1949 adopted Article 45 as a non-judicial provision of India’s constitution which directed the State to provide, within ten years, free and compulsory education to all children until they attain the age of fourteen years.
[This article has been reproduced with permission from SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. Views expressed by authors are personal.]