Supreme Court (SC) in ‘Lucknow Public School Vs. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors’ held that neighbourhood schools are obligated to provide immediate admission to eligible students under the RTE Act, 2009.

About Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (or RTE Act), 2009

• Enacted to give effect to Article 21A of the Constitution.
  • Article 21A (introduced by the 86th Amendment Act of 2002) provides right to free and compulsory education of all children (6 -14 years).
• The Act grants right of every child (6–14 years) to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education.
  • It is the duty of appropriate Government and local authority to establish schools and provide infrastructure, teachers and learning facilities.
• The Act also mandates 25% reservation in private unaided schools for children from economically weaker and disadvantaged sections to promote inclusive and equitable education. 
  • Schools are entitled to reimbursement of per-child expenditure by the State.

Challenges in Implementation

• School-Level Resistance: Private schools continue to resist full inclusion of EWS students.
• Hidden Costs Burden: Expenses for uniforms, books, and materials shift the burden onto poor families.
• Other: Weak monitoring, limited accountability, inter-state variations in execution and outcomes,  inadequate grievance redressal mechanisms, last-mile delivery challenges, etc.