EDUCATION A MUST FOR ALL INDIAN CHILDREN FROM TODAY

By P.Vijian

NEW DELHI, April 1 (Bernama) -- India enforced another milestone law today,
the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, which ensures that
basic education is made available to all Indian children, regardless of their
gender and social class.

The new legislation makes education free and compulsory for every child aged
between six and 14 years -- making education a fundamental right for Indian
kids.

"The Right to Education Act will realise the dreams of many children across
the nation.

"Education is the key to progress and will empower children to become better
citizens of the nation," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a
televised nationwide address.

Millions of children, especially in India's 600,000 rural villages, who once
did not have a chance to attend school, will now be able to benefit from the
new law that comes into effect Thursday.



Manmohan said all minority communities and girls would be given top priority
to education, with adequate funding allocated to state governments to implement
the ambitious law to educate the masses.

Describing education as a passport to upward social mobility, Manmohan cited
his own personal experience of how education had helped to bring success to his
modest background.

"I had to walk a long way to school and studied in the light of a kerosene
lamp. Today, what I am, I am because of education.

"So I want the light of education to reach all," said the 77-year-old
premier.

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) estimates that nearly eight
million Indian children, the majority of them girls, in the school-going age
group are out of classrooms currently, but the new law enacted last year could
change their fate.

-- BERNAMA