Re-examine Bill making education a fundamental right

NEW DELHI, NOV 23: Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sonia Gandhi today demanded that the Government re-exa...

NEW DELHI, NOV 23: Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sonia Gandhi today demanded that the Government re-examine certain aspects of the Constitution (83rd Amendment) Bill, 2000, aimed at making education a fundamental right.

In a letter to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, Sonia asserted that “there are certain aspects of the issue, which have been touched upon in the past by the standing committee related to the department of education, which do not appear to have been adequately covered in this Bill”.

She felt that the Government, in its enthusiasm to make education a fundamental right, should not ignore the quality of education, adding that Article 45 under the Directive Principles need not be deleted merely because education was being made a fundamental right.

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Sonia also wanted that the though parents would have a fundamental duty to provide opportunities for education, penal provisions on them should be avoided.

“Compulsion should be on state governments to provide essential facilities for universal elementary education rather than on parents, a majority of whom struggle for their survival,” she said.