“Provision of free and compulsory education for the relevant age group of 6 to 14 years has been mandated by our Constitution as a fundamental right, and we are in the process of making a law dedicated to this objective,” Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said here on Wednesday.

Inaugurating the second Meeting of the Regional Forum of Ministers of Social Development of SAARC here the Minister said education should not be left to the market forces.

“Even though there are limits to public funding, and there may be temptations to opt for market determined policies on grounds of efficiency, education can be left to the market forces only at our peril,” he said adding that his government had a nine-fold allocation proposed for education in the 11th Five Year Plan over the 10th Plan.
Expansion of opportunities must be accompanied by a concern for equity – particularly, in the access to education for the marginalised sections of the population. Apart from education, there were equally good reasons for focusing on the other social development issues like public health, he added.

This is the first time the Minister officially admitted that the Ministry is working on a dedicated law on Right to Education.

The proposal was on hold for some time due to non-cooperation from the states on funding issues.
Wednesday’s meeting was the second in the series of UNESCO’s and the region’s initiative to organise a network of Asian Ministers of Social Development.

The purpose of the Forum is to establish a network among the countries of the region to address issues related to social justice and development in the overall theme of the social sciences research and its policy-linkages.