NEW DELHI: Holding that the constitutional goal of fraternity can be achieved only when a rickshaw puller’s child studies in a school alongside the child of a multi-millionaire or a Supreme Court judge, the apex court Tuesday initiated the exercise to ensure that all schools make available 25% free seats for children from poor and disadvantaged sections, as mandated under Right to Education Act (RTE).A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar said the RTE Act envisages elementary education for all children in a shared institutional space without differentiating them on the basis of caste, class, gender or economic status. Writing the judgment, Justice Narasimha said, “It makes it possible, normatively and structurally, for the child of a multi-millionaire or even of a Judge of the Supreme Court of India to sit in the same classroom and at the same bench as the child of an autorickshaw driver or a street vendor. This is the way Section 12 seeks to concretise the constitutional principle of fraternity alongside equality and liberty.”Dispelling the skepticism of many holding the traditional but mistaken view that ‘fraternity’ is non-enforceable, SC said, “Unlike equality and liberty, which are frequently framed as individual rights-claims, fraternity is relational; it operates through institutional arrangements that enable individuals to ‘lose suspect identities’ based on caste, class or other hierarchies and to form solidaristic bonds.”“In this sense, the 25% inclusion under Section 12, in unaided neighbourhood schools, is not an isolated welfare measure but a vehicle through which the constitutional commitment to fraternity and the ‘development of the child’ as recognised in Article 21A and Article 39(f) is sought to be realised,” it said. The court also cited the Kothari Commission report’s emphasis on the Common School System wherein children from every section of society get equal education without discrimination.It quoted HRD ministry’s statement: “The often-voiced concern about how 25% children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections can cope in an environment where rich children exist can be resolved when teaching-learning process and teachers use these children as sources of knowledge so that their esteem and recognition go up and they begin to be treated as equals.” The bench said it is necessary and compelling to formulate subordinate legislation by issuing necessary rules and regulations, prescribing the method and manner by which children of weaker and disadvantaged sections are to be admitted in neighbourhood schools.“We direct the appropriate authorities to prepare and issue, in consultation with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and SCPCRs, as the case may be, as well as the National and State Advisory Councils, necessary rules and regulations under Section 38 of the Act for implementing the mandate of Section 12(1)(c) of the Act,” it said. “We further direct NCPCR to collate information about the issuance of rules and regulations by the states and UTs and file an affidavit before this Court by March 31,” the bench said, listing the matter for further hearing on April 6.
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