Duties of Government, Local Authorities, Parents and Schools under the RTE Act, 2009

Key Takeaways

• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) creates a shared system of responsibility involving the Central Government, State Governments, local authorities, parents or guardians and schools. Its objective is to ensure free and compulsory elementary education for children between six and fourteen years of age.
• Sections 6 to 11 primarily deal with the duties of the appropriate Government, local authorities and parents. These provisions cover establishment of neighbourhood schools, funding, infrastructure, teachers, non-discrimination, monitoring, special training and admission of children.
• The Central and State Governments have concurrent responsibility for funding implementation of the RTE Act. Governments are also responsible for ensuring that educational facilities, teaching staff and quality standards necessary for elementary education are available.
• Local authorities have important implementation duties, including maintaining records of children, monitoring admission and attendance, providing infrastructure, identifying children requiring education and ensuring that children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups are not discriminated against.
• Section 10 places a duty on every parent or guardian to admit or cause the child or ward to be admitted to elementary education in a neighbourhood school. The primary responsibility for making education available, however, continues to rest on public authorities.
• Schools have several responsibilities under Sections 12 to 22, including providing free education where required, complying with admission rules, avoiding capitation fees and screening procedures, protecting children from physical punishment and mental harassment and complying with recognition and infrastructure standards.
• The RTE Act treats the right to education as a coordinated legal responsibility rather than merely placing the burden on a child or family. Government authorities must create the educational system, local authorities must implement and monitor it, parents must facilitate admission and schools must provide education according to statutory standards.

What Is the RTE Act?

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, commonly known as the RTE Act, is the central legislation governing the right to elementary education in India. It came into force on 1 April 2010.

Section 3 recognises the right of every child between six and fourteen years of age to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school until completion of elementary education. A child cannot be required to pay any fee, charge or expense that may prevent the child from pursuing and completing elementary education.

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The Act gives effect to Article 21A of the Constitution of India, which makes free and compulsory education for children between six and fourteen years a Fundamental Right. The constitutional recognition of education was strengthened through the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002.

The word “compulsory” is important. The Act does not simply require children to attend school. It places a positive obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education.

The statutory framework therefore distributes responsibilities among several participants rather than treating education entirely as a responsibility of parents.

Who Is Responsible for Implementing the RTE Act?

Responsibility under the RTE Act is divided broadly among:

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• the appropriate Government;
• the Central and State Governments for financial responsibilities;
• local authorities;
• parents and guardians; and
• recognised schools and their management.

Chapter III of the Act specifically deals with the duties of the appropriate Government, local authorities and parents, while Chapter IV deals with the responsibilities of schools and teachers.

This structure reflects the nature of the right to education as a Fundamental Right in India. A constitutional right cannot effectively operate unless government institutions, local authorities and educational institutions perform their respective functions.

Duty to Establish Neighbourhood Schools under Section 6

Section 6 deals with one of the most basic responsibilities under the RTE framework: availability of schools.

Where a school has not been established within the prescribed neighbourhood area or limits, the appropriate Government and the local authority are responsible for establishing such a school.

The original statutory provision required this obligation to be fulfilled within three years from commencement of the Act.

The concept of a neighbourhood school is significant because a legal right to education cannot be meaningfully exercised where children have no reasonably accessible school.

The actual neighbourhood limits and implementation requirements may be prescribed through applicable rules. Factors such as geographical conditions, population density and accessibility can therefore become relevant while implementing the neighbourhood-school requirement.

How Is the Financial Responsibility under the RTE Act Shared?

Section 7: Central and State Governments

Section 7 provides that the Central Government and State Governments have concurrent responsibility for providing funds necessary to implement the RTE Act.

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The Central Government is responsible for preparing estimates of capital and recurring expenditure required for implementation. The statutory framework also provides for determination of the manner in which expenditure is shared between the Central Government and State Governments.

Financial responsibility under the Act is important because the duties imposed by the legislation involve significant expenditure, including:

• construction and maintenance of schools and educational infrastructure;
• appointment, remuneration and training of teachers;
• provision of educational and learning materials;
• development of facilities required under prescribed norms;
• special training for children admitted to age-appropriate classes; and
• implementation of statutory free-education obligations.

The RTE framework therefore does not leave the financing of elementary education solely to individual schools, parents or local bodies. Financial support forms part of the larger governmental responsibility to make elementary education practically available.

What Are the Duties of the Appropriate Government under Section 8?

Section 8 contains the major statutory responsibilities of the appropriate Government.

The appropriate Government may be the Central Government, State Government or Government of a Union Territory depending upon the nature and control of the school concerned.

Providing Free and Compulsory Elementary Education

The Government must provide free and compulsory elementary education to every child covered by the Act.

The expression “free education” means that a child should not be liable to pay any fee, charge or expense that may prevent the child from pursuing and completing elementary education.

The obligation is therefore broader than merely providing admission.

Ensuring Availability of Neighbourhood Schools

The Government must ensure the availability of neighbourhood schools as required under Section 6.

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Merely recognising a right to education is insufficient unless schools are physically available and reasonably accessible to children.

Preventing Discrimination

The appropriate Government must ensure that children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups are not discriminated against and are not prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education.

This obligation reflects the broader constitutional principle of equality and the prohibition against discrimination. Article 15 of the Constitution of India is particularly important in the constitutional framework governing discrimination and special provisions for disadvantaged sections, including in relation to educational institutions.

The duty under the RTE Act is not satisfied merely by allowing formal admission. Authorities must also ensure that discriminatory practices do not effectively exclude children from education.

Providing Infrastructure and Teachers

The Government must ensure the availability of:

• suitable school buildings and infrastructure;
• qualified teaching staff;
• educational and learning equipment; and
• other facilities required under the norms prescribed by the Act.

Adequate infrastructure is an important part of effective implementation because enrolment without classrooms, teachers or basic educational facilities cannot provide meaningful elementary education.

Providing Special Training

Children above six years who have never attended school or who have not completed elementary education may be admitted to a class appropriate to their age under Section 4.

Such children are entitled to special training in the prescribed manner so that they can reach the academic level required for participation in the relevant class.

The Government is responsible for ensuring that this mechanism functions effectively.

Ensuring Quality Elementary Education

Section 8 also requires the Government to ensure good quality elementary education conforming to the standards and norms prescribed under the Act.

The responsibility therefore extends beyond increasing enrolment figures. The statutory framework also concerns the educational experience and quality of learning available to children.

Curriculum and Teacher Training

The appropriate Government must ensure timely prescription of curriculum and courses of study and provide training facilities for teachers.

Availability of schools, suitable curriculum, properly qualified teachers and adequate training are interconnected elements of meaningful elementary education.

What Are the Duties of Local Authorities under Section 9?

Local authorities perform many of the RTE Act’s practical and ground-level implementation functions.

Section 9 requires local authorities to ensure free and compulsory elementary education and perform several connected duties.

Ensuring Free Elementary Education

Local authorities must ensure that every eligible child within their jurisdiction receives free and compulsory elementary education.

Their responsibilities operate at the local level and are therefore particularly important in identifying children who remain outside the formal education system.

Ensuring Availability of Neighbourhood Schools

Local authorities share responsibility for ensuring the availability of neighbourhood schools.

Where adequate schooling facilities are unavailable, public authorities must take appropriate steps in accordance with the Act and applicable rules.

Preventing Discrimination

Local authorities must ensure that children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups are not discriminated against or prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education.

The protection of children from exclusion also forms part of India’s broader framework of child laws and child rights, under which education, protection and development are interconnected legal concerns.

Maintaining Records of Children

One of the particularly important responsibilities of local authorities is maintaining records of children up to fourteen years of age residing within their jurisdiction.

Such records assist authorities in identifying children who:

• have never been enrolled in school;
• have discontinued their education;
• require special training before or after age-appropriate admission;
• belong to migrant families and face interruption in education; or
• otherwise remain outside the elementary education system.

Accurate records are essential for identifying gaps between formal educational rights and actual school attendance.

Monitoring Admission, Attendance and Completion

Local authorities must monitor the admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by children within their jurisdiction.

The duty is not limited to getting children enrolled. Continued attendance and eventual completion of elementary education are also important parts of the statutory responsibility.

Providing Infrastructure and Educational Facilities

Local authorities must help ensure the availability of school infrastructure, teaching staff and learning materials according to prescribed standards.

This responsibility may involve coordination with State authorities and school management depending upon the administrative framework applicable in the particular area.

Providing Special Training

Children admitted to an age-appropriate class under Section 4 may require additional academic support.

Local authorities are required to ensure the provision of the special training prescribed for such children so that lack of earlier schooling does not permanently prevent them from joining age-appropriate education.

Ensuring Education for Children of Migrant Families

Migration frequently interrupts children’s schooling. Section 9 therefore places responsibility on local authorities to ensure admission of children belonging to migrant families.

This responsibility is significant for children whose families move between districts or States for seasonal, construction, agricultural or other employment.

Monitoring Schools

Local authorities also have a responsibility to monitor the functioning of schools within their jurisdiction.

This makes the local authority an important institutional link between national or State educational policy and actual implementation at the school level.

Deciding the Academic Calendar

Section 9 also assigns responsibility relating to determination of the academic calendar.

The wide range of functions under this section demonstrates that local authorities are expected to actively facilitate elementary education rather than merely maintain administrative records.

What Is the Duty of Parents under Section 10 of the RTE Act?

Section 10 states that it is the duty of every parent or guardian to admit or cause to be admitted the child or ward to elementary education in the neighbourhood school.

The statutory wording primarily concerns admission.

The provision should not be interpreted as shifting the Government’s responsibility for compulsory education onto financially or socially disadvantaged families. The wider structure of the Act places substantial positive obligations on Governments and local authorities to create schools, remove financial barriers, prevent discrimination and monitor educational participation.

Therefore, the duty of parents operates alongside, rather than in substitution of, governmental responsibility.

Section 10 itself does not prescribe a monetary penalty merely because a parent or guardian fails to admit a child. The RTE framework largely approaches compulsory education by creating obligations on public authorities to make education available and accessible.

What Is the Government’s Responsibility for Pre-School Education?

Section 11 deals with children below the age covered by the enforceable elementary education entitlement under Section 3.

To prepare children above three years of age for elementary education and to provide early childhood care and education until the age of six years, the appropriate Government may make necessary arrangements for providing free pre-school education.

This provision connects the RTE framework with the broader constitutional approach towards children’s education and early childhood development.

It should be distinguished from the enforceable entitlement under Section 3, which specifically applies to children between six and fourteen years of age.

What Are the Responsibilities of Schools under Section 12?

Section 12 determines the extent to which different categories of schools must provide free and compulsory education.

The obligations differ according to the nature of the school.

Government and Local Authority Schools

Schools established, owned or controlled by the appropriate Government or a local authority must provide free and compulsory elementary education to all children admitted to them.

This represents the clearest form of direct State responsibility under the RTE framework.

Aided Schools

An aided school must provide free and compulsory elementary education to such proportion of admitted children as the annual recurring aid or grants received bears to its annual recurring expenses, subject to the minimum requirement prescribed by Section 12.

Thus, receipt of governmental aid carries corresponding obligations regarding provision of free elementary education.

Specified Category and Unaided Schools

Section 12(1)(c) requires covered specified-category and unaided schools to admit, in Class I, children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in the neighbourhood to the extent of at least 25 per cent of the strength of that class, and provide free and compulsory elementary education until its completion.

Where such a school provides pre-school education, the statutory requirement applies at the pre-school entry stage in accordance with the proviso to Section 12.

The Act also contains a reimbursement mechanism for eligible unaided schools subject to the conditions specified in Section 12(2).

What Admission Rules Must Schools Follow under the RTE Act?

School responsibilities extend beyond Section 12. The RTE Act regulates important aspects of the admission process so that financial demands or procedural barriers do not improperly exclude children.

No Capitation Fee

Section 13 prohibits schools or persons from collecting capitation fees while admitting children.

A contravention may attract a fine extending to ten times the capitation fee charged.

The prohibition is intended to prevent access to elementary education from being determined by unlawful additional payments demanded as a condition of admission.

No Screening Procedure

A child or the child’s parents or guardian cannot be subjected to a prohibited screening procedure for admission.

The Act provides monetary penalties for contravention of this requirement.

Admission must therefore operate in accordance with the statutory framework rather than through prohibited selection procedures designed to screen children or families.

Admission Cannot Be Denied for Lack of Age Proof

Section 14 provides for determination of a child’s age for the purpose of admission.

Importantly, no child can be denied admission merely because proof of age is unavailable.

This provision prevents absence of documentation from becoming an absolute barrier to elementary education.

Late Admission Cannot Automatically Be Refused

Section 15 provides that a child seeking admission after the prescribed or extended admission period cannot simply be denied admission for that reason.

The provision ensures that procedural admission timelines do not permanently exclude a child from the elementary education system.

What Duties Do Schools Have Towards the Safety and Dignity of Children?

Section 17 prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment of children.

This obligation is central to the RTE framework because the statutory right concerns not only physical access to a school but also education in an environment consistent with the dignity and well-being of the child.

A person who violates this prohibition may be liable to disciplinary action under the applicable service rules.

The provision therefore recognises that fear, humiliation and physical punishment are incompatible with a child-centred system of elementary education.

Recognition and Minimum Standards for Schools

Recognition under Section 18

Subject to the statutory framework, a school cannot function without obtaining the required certificate of recognition.

Recognition is connected with compliance with prescribed conditions and ensures regulatory oversight over institutions providing elementary education.

Operating a school without the recognition required under the Act may attract statutory consequences.

Norms and Standards under Section 19

Schools covered by the Act must satisfy prescribed norms and standards.

These requirements relate to matters such as:

• school buildings and infrastructure;
• availability of teachers;
• pupil-teacher ratios;
• working days and instructional hours;
• teaching and learning equipment;
• library facilities; and
• other educational requirements contained in the statutory framework and Schedule.

The purpose of these standards is to ensure that the right to education does not become merely a right to admission in an institution lacking basic educational facilities.

What Is the Role of the School Management Committee?

Section 21 provides for School Management Committees (SMCs) in schools to which the provision applies.

The statutory framework gives parents and guardians a significant role in school-level governance. At least three-fourths of the members of the committee are required to be parents or guardians, and fifty per cent of the members must be women.

Representation must also be given to parents or guardians of children belonging to disadvantaged groups and weaker sections.

Important functions of the SMC include:

• Monitoring the school: The committee monitors the general working and functioning of the school and can therefore play an important role in identifying deficiencies in implementation.
• Preparing the School Development Plan: The SMC prepares and recommends a School Development Plan, which assists in identifying the school’s future requirements and educational needs.
• Monitoring grants: The committee monitors utilisation of grants received from the appropriate Government, local authority or other sources.

The detailed constitution and functioning of School Management Committees are further regulated through the applicable rules.

Difference Between Duties of Government, Local Authorities, Parents and Schools

Why Does the RTE Act Divide Responsibility Among Different Authorities?

The right to elementary education cannot be implemented by a single institution.

A school cannot admit children if schools do not exist in accessible areas. Local bodies cannot maintain educational access without adequate government funding. Admission alone is ineffective without teachers, infrastructure and educational standards. Similarly, government programmes cannot achieve universal elementary education unless children who remain outside the schooling system are identified and brought into education.

The RTE Act therefore creates an interconnected structure.

The Government provides the legal, financial and institutional framework. Local authorities translate that framework into local implementation and monitoring. Parents and guardians facilitate admission. Schools provide education in accordance with statutory requirements.

This division of responsibility makes elementary education a public legal obligation rather than merely a private family responsibility.

Conclusion

The duties of Government, local authorities, parents and schools under the RTE Act, 2009 are designed to work together to protect the child’s right to elementary education.

Sections 6 to 11 establish the principal responsibilities of public authorities and parents. Governments must provide the resources, schools, infrastructure, teachers and educational framework necessary to make elementary education accessible. Local authorities must identify children, monitor enrolment and attendance, prevent discrimination and facilitate education at the local level. Parents and guardians have the statutory duty to cause children to be admitted to elementary education.

Sections 12 onwards place important responsibilities on schools. Depending on their category, schools must provide free education, comply with admission requirements, avoid capitation fees and prohibited screening, protect children from physical punishment and mental harassment and meet recognition and minimum-standard requirements.

The RTE Act consequently treats the right to education as a coordinated statutory responsibility. Its effectiveness depends not merely on recognising a child’s right to enter a classroom but on ensuring that the institutional, financial, administrative and educational conditions necessary for completing elementary education are actually available.