Question:easy

Which one of the following statements is correct?
Right to free and compulsory education for all children of the age of 6 to 14 years is:

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Find the Article number and the Part it sits in. Article 21A was inserted by the 86th Amendment into Part III, the fundamental rights chapter.
Updated On: Jul 17, 2026
  • a fundamental right enforceable in law
  • a fundamental duty
  • a directive principle of state policy
  • a fundamental right which, however, can be enforced only if the state makes an enabling legislation
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

The quickest way to settle this is to ask a single question: which Part of the Constitution does the provision live in? Part III holds fundamental rights and courts enforce them. Part IV holds directive principles and Article 37 says no court can enforce those. Part IVA holds fundamental duties, which bind citizens rather than the State.

The right to free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen is Article 21A, and Article 21A sits in Part III. The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 put it there. A child denied a school place can move the High Court under Article 226 or the Supreme Court under Article 32. That makes it a fundamental right enforceable in law.

  1. a fundamental right enforceable in law: Correct. Article 21A is part of the fundamental rights chapter and carries the usual enforcement machinery with it.
  2. a fundamental duty: Wrong. The fundamental duty is Article 51A(k), which asks a parent or guardian to provide education opportunities to a child between six and fourteen. It binds parents, and fundamental duties are in any case not directly enforceable against the State in this manner.
  3. a directive principle of state policy: Wrong. That was the pre-2002 position, when education for children up to fourteen appeared in Article 45. Article 45 now speaks of early childhood care and education for children below six.
  4. a fundamental right which, however, can be enforced only if the state makes an enabling legislation: Wrong, and this is the trap. Article 21A ends with "in such manner as the State may, by law, determine". Those words let the legislature decide how education is delivered, through the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. They do not suspend the right until a statute arrives. No fundamental right in Part III waits on an enabling law to become enforceable.

The history is worth carrying. In Unni Krishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh the Supreme Court drew a right to education for children up to fourteen out of the right to life in Article 21. The Eighty-sixth Amendment then wrote it in expressly, and the 2009 Act supplied the working details.

Let's summarize:

  • Article 21A, Part III, inserted by the 86th Amendment in 2002.
  • Enforceable under Articles 32 and 226 like any other fundamental right.
  • The words about manner concern delivery, not the birth of the right.

So option (A) is the answer.

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