At the outset, I extend a warm welcome to the Hon’ble Vice-President and to Smt. Ansari to Sikkim.

I also extend my hearty congratulations to the Hon’ble Chief Justice and his colleagues for organizing such an important seminar on ‘Right to Education with special reference to Sikkim and its impact of legal awareness campaign’ very appropriately as a part of an event to celebrate the Golden Jubilee year of the High Court of Sikkim.

Ever since Sikkim merged with the Indian Union in 1975 as the 22nd State, much progress has been made both in the legal arena and in spread of education.

Fortunately, education is in the news in India. The enactment of the Right to Education is truly historic in our history. For centuries people of certain castes and women in particular were denied access to education. Our leaders in the freedom struggle rejected this deplorable tradition and we have made a decisive break with this past. We are keen to secure education for each Indian.

Education is at the centre of both individual development and overall progress in society. A good education empowers people to take responsibility for their own lives and for improving the lives of those around them. Modern technology and the forces of globalization have reduced distances and increased connectivity. The content and quality of education have enormous potential to make an important contribution to our individual well-being and to strengthening of our nation. 

The growth and development of tomorrow’s India depends on today’s action and if we fail in our quest to educate our children and equip them with needed skills then problems of poverty and over-population will continue to persist.

In this context, the right of children to free and compulsory education enacted by the Parliament this year is a step in right direction. The genesis of this right is embedded in the Constitution of India. The provision of universal and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14 years was a cherished national ideal and was accorded priority by its incorporation as a Directive Principle of State Policy in Article 45 of the Constitution. Further, in the year 2002 a new Article, 21 A was inserted in the Constitution to make elementary education a fundamental right for children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. Thus the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 seeks to achieve the objectives envisaged in Article 45 and 21 A of the Constitution.

The Government of India has taken this far reaching initiative to tackle the problems of illiteracy.

Action is needed in several areas. Good infrastructures, shortage of trained and quality teachers, and curriculum that help students to apply themselves fully to their educational requirements are some of the issues that need to be addressed. I am happy that the Education Act, 2009 addresses these issues.

Now, the need is to take up these tasks in a mission mode ensuring that all the stakeholders, particularly, the policy makers, teachers, parents, educationists, NGOs work in a concerted fashion channelizing their energies and resources to accomplish this task.

We in Sikkim have already initiated several steps to significantly reduce illiteracy and to make education affordable at the grassroots level. Some of these steps relate to free mid-day meal, free uniform, rain coats, text books and school bags to our children.

But I must also emphasize that merely sending children to school or having requisite infrastructure with a comfortable student-teacher ratio is not enough to impart or to secure good education. What is crucial is the dedication and commitment of the teachers and positive attitude of the parents and other stakeholders. The drop-out rates among school children in Sikkim is a matter of deep concern. 

  
The High Court of Sikkim has recently moved in the direction to going beyond the traditional Courts by launching mediation centres at Gangtok and Namchi which are already functional. There are plans to have similar centres at Mangan and in Gyalshing. Simultaneously, the High Court has started training camp for the judicial officers. The aim is to make Sikkim a litigation free State. I commend the steps taken by the High Court of Sikkim in this behalf.

Our aim is to make Sikkim a fully literate State by 2015 and the rapid progress that we have achieved in recent years in this behalf gives us confidence that we shall be able to achieve this objective. Needless to mention that a fully literate population in the State would provide support to the objective of the High Court of Sikkim to move for litigation free State.

Sikkim could justifiably take pride in the fact that literacy rate has accelerated and education in general and the legal education in particular, have made tremendous progress in the recent years. Today, we have more graduates including law graduates in the State. Legal awareness, too, is spreading rapidly.

The need of the hour is to have education that empowers one to examine both oneself and others. It is then only that we would know our strengths and weaknesses and those of the system of governance. Socrates has rightly said “If I tell you that this is the greatest good for a human being, to engage every day in arguments about virtue and the other things you have heard me talk about, examining both myself and others, and if I tell you that the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being, you will be even less likely to believe what I am saying. But that’s the way it is, gentlemen, as I claim, though it’s not easy to convince you of it”.

Socrates was right in holding that “the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being” and that there was need to examine both oneself and others. But how we could secure that?

It is only through democracy and rule of law that we can secure for our citizens the right of questioning. Towards this, it is the responsibility of our independent Judiciary and sensitive Executive to secure for all citizens the freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in the Constitution of India.

I am reminded of a statement of a retired Judge of Malaysian apex court in this behalf. While participating in an international conference he said “our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech” and after a long pause he observed “it does not guarantee freedom after speech”. I know that this does not apply to Sikkim or to the rest of the country. But we have to remain constantly vigilant.

                                             Thank you.