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29. Further, Article 46 declares that the state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people. It is significant to note that among several Articles enshrined under Part IV of the Indian Constitution, Article 45 had been given much importance, as education is the basic necessity of the democracy and if the people are denied their right to education, then democracy will be paralyzed; and it was, therefore, emphasized that the objectives enshrined under Article 45 in Chapter IV of the Constitution should be achieved within ten years of the adoption of the Constitution. By establishing the obligations of the State, the Founding Fathers made it the responsibility of future governments to formulate a programme in order to achieve the given goals, but the unresponsive and sluggish attitude of the government to achieve the objectives enshrined under Article 45, belied the hopes and aspirations of the people. However, the Judiciary showed keen interest in providing free and compulsory education to all the children below the age of fourteen years. In the case of Mohini Jain V State of Karnataka and others - (1992) 3 SCC 666, this Court held that right to education is a fundamental right enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution. The right to education springs from right to life. The right to life under Article 21 and the dignity of the individual cannot fully be appreciated without the enjoyment of right to education. The Court observed:

32. Again in Bandhua Mukti Morcha V Union of India and others, reported in (1997) 10 SCC 549, Justice K. Ramaswamy and Justice Saghir Ahmad observed that illiteracy has many adverse effects in a democracy governed by a rule of law. It was held that educated citizens could meaningfully exercise their political rights, discharge social responsibilities satisfactorily and develop sprit of tolerance and reform. Therefore, compulsory education is one of the essentials for the stability of democracy, social integration and to eliminate social evils. This Court by rightly and harmoniously construing the provision of Part III and IV of the Constitution has made ‘Right to education’ a basic fundamental right.

33. The Government of India by Constitutional (86th Amendment Act) Act, 2002 had added a new Article 21A, which provides that "the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in such manner as the State may, by law determine". Further, they strengthened this Article 21A by adding a clause (k) to Article 51-A, which provides for those who are a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his/her child or ward between the age of 6 and 14 years. On the basis of the Constitutional mandate provided under Articles 41, 45, 46, 21-A, 51-A(k) and various judgments of this Court, both the Government of India, as well as this Court has taken several steps to eradicate illiteracy, improve the quality of education and simultaneously ensure that the dropouts are brought to nil. Some of these programmes are the National Technology Mission, District Primary Education Programme, and Nutrition Support for Primary Education, National Open School, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and other state specific initiatives. Besides this, several States have enacted legislations to provide free and compulsory primary education such as: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, The Kerala Education Act 1959, The Punjab Primary Education Act 1960, The Gujarat Compulsory Primary Education Act 1961, U.P. Basic Education Act 1972, Rajasthan Primary Education Act 1964, Tamil Nadu Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011, etc.

75. In our considered view, such a narrow interpretation would be doing violence to the very basic concept of education, and would create a serious restrain on the University, where, imparting of education is the primary objective and dealing with any specific subject may be for enabling any one to acquire special knowledge on such subjects. In other words, any such restrictive interpretation would go against the basic tenets of the concept of education, which no Court can venture to state.