Ask the Constitution → Your rights, by who you are
The Constitution has a great deal to say about children, from free schooling to protection from hazardous work, and it places a matching duty on you. Here is where the document touches your child's life, and yours.
Descriptive, not legal advice · text as amended through the 106th Amendment (2023)
The state must provide free and compulsory education to every child aged six to fourteen. Added by the 86th Amendment in 2002, this is an enforceable fundamental right.
No child below the age of fourteen may be employed in any factory, mine, or other hazardous work. A fundamental right, enforceable in court.
The state must provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete six years. A Directive Principle: a duty on the state, not enforceable in court.
State policy must direct that children are given opportunities to develop in a healthy manner and are protected against abuse and exploitation. A Directive Principle.
Clause (k) makes it a parent's or guardian's duty to provide opportunities for education to their child aged six to fourteen. A duty the Constitution places on you.
Clause (3) lets the state make special provisions for women and children, the constitutional basis for laws that protect and benefit them specifically.
Life and personal liberty, which the Supreme Court has read to include dignity, health, and a child's right to a wholesome upbringing.