Implementing the Fundamental Right of the Child to Education: The Case of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Children have always been a vulnerable group in society. Their needs are secondary in the agenda of the policy maker, and even when these needs are taken into consideration, it is usually done as a token gesture. This note explores an example of this apathy by examining the status of child rights, with a particular focus on education, in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. While the essay primarily relies on information gathered from the ground in January-February, 2005, the issues discussed here have longer shadows. The issue of rights of the child in the Andaman and Nicobar islands has never been closely examined before and the fault lines have never been apparent. The tsunami of 24.12.2004 is not the only source of all the problems that children in the Andaman and Nicobar islands face today; it merely added to the problems that had already existed.