Constitutional Mandate for Free and Compulsory Education

Abstract

The original constitutional provision for free and compulsory education, granted under Article 45 stated that it was to be available for ‘all children until they complete the age of fourteen years’, but it did not specify the lower age limit nor the stage of education (whether elementary or primary) that would be free and compulsory. This has led to much speculation about the ‘real intentions’ of the founding fathers of the Constitution and even led to ‘policy framing’ in support of various preferred strategies. However, this article, based on recent research that traces the genesis of this clause, shows that the pre-final text of what was adopted in the Constitution of India as Article 45 originated from four sister clauses that together represented the essence of the Sargent Plan of 1944, with the intention of making only the primary stage of education free and compulsory.