Article 21A — Right to Education

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.

Source: Constitution of India, as published by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

Education was originally placed in Article 45 as a Directive Principle — a non-justiciable aspiration to provide free and compulsory education within ten years of the Constitution's commencement (by 1960), a goal that went unmet for decades. The constitutional status of education was debated through the Unni Krishnan case (1993), where the Supreme Court read a right to education into Article 21 for children up to 14. The 86th Amendment (2002) formally elevated it to a Fundamental Right and simultaneously amended Article 45 (now focused on early childhood care) and inserted Article 51A(k) (a fundamental duty to provide opportunities for education to children). The RTE Act 2009 gave enforceable content to Article 21A.

• 86th Amendment (2002) — Inserted Article 21A making education a fundamental right for children aged 6–14.

• Article 21
• Article 45
• Article 51A

Last reviewed: 1 June 2026