Early Childhood Care and Education for Children Below Six Years
Official heading: “Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years”
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part IV, Article 45, printed page 23
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- Last human legal review
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1. In One Sentence
Article 45 directs the State to endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Originally, Article 45 directed the State to provide free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of fourteen years within ten years of the Constitution's commencement.
In 2002, the Eighty-sixth Constitutional Amendment restructured this constitutional area: it elevated free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 to an enforceable Fundamental Right under Article 21A, and simultaneously amended Article 45 to focus specifically on early childhood care and pre-school education for children below the age of six years.
Article 45 provides the constitutional basis for early childhood initiatives such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and Anganwadi pre-school centres.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A four-year-old child attends a village Anganwadi centre providing supplementary nutrition and foundational early learning.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 45 directs early childhood care and foundational education for children under six years.
- Substituted by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, section 3 (effective 1 April 2010).
- Specifically addresses children under six years old, leaving ages 6–14 to Article 21A.
- Implemented through national early childhood care frameworks, Anganwadi networks, and pre-primary policies.
5. Operative Constitutional Text
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part IV, Article 45, printed page 23 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.