India is falling behind in education, not inclusive: Supreme Court Justice Lalit, at an event in Gujarat

India is still falling behind in education as it has not yet achieved the goal of 'inclusive education' in line with the standards set in the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations, Supreme Court's Justice UU Lalit said on Monday, November 1, while speaking at an event in Bhuj, Gujarat. 

The event was a legal service camp and an awareness programme that was organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) as part of its pan-India outreach efforts that started on October 2 and is scheduled to end on November 14.

Justice Lalit, who is the Executive Chairman of NALSA, said that public institutions such as AIIMS, the IITs, the NITs and National Law Schools have achieved excellence in their respective fields, but the same is not the case with government primary and secondary schools in the country. "Are government schools the first choice for any citizen to send his child or is it the school in the private sector that is supposed to be the first choice?" asked Justice Lalit while addressing the gathering.

"Our education is not inclusive. Our education is not such that those provided (with it) in villages and big cities have no difference in their qualities. We must consider all this. And unless we achieve this, according to Sustainable Development Goals standards, we are still lacking in terms of education," he said.

Mentioning the Right to Education (RTE) Act, Justice Lalit said that nearly eleven years since its introduction, the participation of girl students in elementary and secondary schools has increased. He said education alone is not enough and one needs to consider the aspect of "inclusiveness" in education. "I believe that there is more need to take some efforts in this direction," he added.

"If education is the most fundamental and cherished right of every child in this country, then it is our bounden duty to make available what is called good, quality education," he said, adding that unless this is achieved one cannot consider poverty being eradicated in terms of world standards.

Justice Lalit said that NALSA also aims at empowering women and elevating those with some form of mental disability. "NALSA believes that mental weakness or disability is not a permanent feature. It is a temporary phenomenon and we have to overcome the temporary phenomenon with effort. And the efforts should not only be from the family, but it also depends on our society, systems and how to raise the child," he said.