ABSTRACT
The founding fathers of the Indian constitution, in 1950, set a goal that all children up to the age of 14 years would receive free and compulsory education by 1960. However, this proved to be very ambitious because the resources — financial and human — needed to achieve this goal could not be put in place and the target date for universalisation of elementary education kept changing. At long last, more than six decades after independence, the Union Cabinet of India cleared the long-pending Right to Education Bill (that was passed by Parliament in 2002) in 2008, which promises free and compulsory education to all children between six and 14 (Indian Express 2008).1
