According to sustainable development standards, India still falls short in terms of education because it has not achieved the goal of “inclusive education,” Supreme Court judge Justice UU Lalit said here on Monday, emphasising the need to make more efforts in this area and provide good and quality education to all children. Justice Lalit was at Bhuj, Gujarat, for a mammoth legal services camp and awareness event organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) as part of a pan-India outreach drive that began on October 2 and will end on November 14.
National public sector institutions such as AIIMS, IITs, NITs, National Law Schools, and others, according to Justice Lalit, Executive Chairman of NALSA, have attained greatness in their respective professions. “Are government schools the first choice for any citizen to send his child, or is it the private sector school that is meant to be the first choice?”
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“Our educational system does not cater to all students. Our education is not of the calibre of that supplied (with it) in certain towns and large cities. And unless we do this, we will continue to fall short in terms of education, according to sustainable development norms,” he stated. Justice Lalit mentioned the Right to Education (RTE) Act, saying that nearly 11 years after its inception, women students’ involvement in elementary and secondary schools has grown. He stated that education alone is insufficient, and that “inclusiveness in education” must be considered. And I feel that greater effort should be made in this area, he continued.
When it comes to “poverty alleviation,” Justice Lalit believes it should be measured by the Sustainable Development Goals rather than the “Below Poverty Line” data. Only one out of every 100 persons in the courts, according to Justice Lalit, receives assistance from the legal services authority.
He described the induction of women into the National Defence Academy and their subsequent service as fighters as a “major accomplishment” that NALSA strives to give. “Mental weakness or handicap, according to NALSA, is not a permanent characteristic. It is a transient occurrence, and we must work hard to overcome it. And the efforts should not be limited to the family; they must also include our culture, processes, and methods of raising children.
In his statement, Supreme Court Justice MR Shah stated that individuals must be aware of their legal rights in order to obtain legal assistance. “You should be aware that we are making every effort to provide free and high-quality legal services. For a vast number of poor, weaker, and disadvantaged individuals, access to justice remains a “far dream” owing to a lack of understanding of free and competent legal aid and support, according to Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Aravind Kumar.
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“You may not succeed in attaining the slogan of NALSA–Nyay Sabke Liye–that is access to justice for all until and until legal awareness is carried out as a big campaign,” he remarked. Since the campaign began on October 2, according to Justice RM Chhaya of the Gujarat High Court, who is also the Executive Chairman of GSLSA, 18,444 villages in Gujarat have been covered in the first of three stages, with the second phase approaching completion. “Approximately 3 crore individuals were reached through door-to-door campaigns, and 11 lakh people benefitted from legal education camps,” says the report. “An additional 94 lakh persons were reached via mobile vans,” Justice Chhaya noted.
