RTE Act was implemented in India with effect from

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A.

Key Points

• This law ensures that every child has a right to full-time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school.
• Article 21-A and the RTE Act came into effect on 1 April 2010.
• The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A into the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education for all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine. 

The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’.

• ‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
• ‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance, and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age group.

Hence, RTE Act was implemented in India with effect from 1st April 2010.