360 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
ARTICLE 36
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta maitra : (West Bengal: General): Mr. Vice-President, Sir I beg to move:
“That in article 36, the words ‘Every citizen is entitled to free primary education and’ be deleted.”
Sir, I will strictly obey the injunction given by you regarding curtailment of speeches. I will put in half a dozen sentences to explain the purpose of this amendment. If this amendment is accepted by the House, as I hope it will be, then the article will read as follows :
“The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.” ......
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : (West Bengal : Muslim) : Sir, I beg to move :
“That in article 36, for the word ‘education’, the words ‘primary education’ be substituted.”
*The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I accept the amendment proposed by my friend, Mr. Maitra, which suggests the deletion of the words “every citizen is entitled to free primary education and”. But I am not prepared to accept the amendment of my Friend, Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad. He seems to think that the objective of the rest of the clause in article 36 is restricted to free primary education. But that is not so. The clause as it stands after the amendment is that every child shall be kept in an educational institution under training until the child is of 14 years. If my Honourable Friend, Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad had referred to article 18, which forms pan of the Fundamental Rights, he would have noticed that a provision is made in article 18 to forbid any child being employed below the age of 14. Obviously, if the child is not to be employed below the age of 14, the child must be kept occupied in some educational institution. That is the object of article 36, and that is why I say the word “primary” is quite inappropriate in that particular clause, and I therefore oppose his amendment.
[The motion of Pandit Maitra was adopted. The motion of Naziruddin Ahmad was negatived.]
Article 36, as amended, was added to the Constitution.
*CAD, (Official Report), Vol. VII, 22nd November 1948, p. 538.
† Ibid., 540