Summary of RTE Act 2009

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009, which describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21a of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010.

The quality of education provided by the government system is not good. While it remains the largest provider of elementary education in the country forming 80% of all recognised schools, it suffers from shortages of teachers, infrastructural gaps and several habitations continue to lack schools altogether. The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children.

The RTE Act is the first legislation in the world that puts the responsibility of ensuring enrolment, attendance and completion on the Government. It is the parents' responsibility to send the children to schools in India. Though Govt says economically backward children are admitted in to private schools under RTE, but the fact is in the states like Andhra Pradesh, Children are admitted in to private schools based on caste based reservations.

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The Act provides for admission of children without any certification. However, several states have continued pre-existing procedures insisting that children produce income and caste certificates, BPL cards and birth certificates. Orphan children are often unable to produce such documents, even though they are willing to do so. As a result, schools are not admitting them, as they require the documents as a condition to admission.