Education has been a thrust sector ever since India attained independence. The leaders of independent India had formulated provisions for primary formal and non-formal education to realise the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE). The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act 2002, enacted in December 2002 seeks to make education free and compulsory, and a Fundamental Right for all children in the age-group 6-14 years. A new Article, 21A in Part III ["Fundamental Rights"] of the Constitution has been introduced to accentuate this. It reads: The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.”

The government introduced the District Primary Education Programme in November 1994 to regulate the elementary education system in India. The programme aims at operationalising the strategies for achieving UEE through district specific planning, and disaggregate target setting.

There are other programmes for compulsory elementary education, especially for girls. The Kasturba Gandhi Shiksha Yojana aims to establish residential schools for girls in all the districts, which have a particularly low female literacy rate. Institutes like National Bal Bhavan encourages children to pursue activities as per their liking, and thus enhance their creative potential. Other programmes, like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid Day Meal Scheme have been introduced with the intention of attracting more children (and parents) towards literacy.

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