Role of LSG in realizing the right to education in North India

This paper investigates the extent to which rural local self-governance realises the right to education through a comparative study of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and examines the implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) as the principal instrument by which that right is delivered. The study adopts the Respect–Protect–Fulfil–Promote (RPFP) framework for evaluating the performance of the Gram Panchayat and the implementation of the SSA. The primary data were gathered through a mixed-method research design from 1,050 respondents, which comprised 150 Panchayat members and 900 beneficiaries, together with an institutional checklist of 29 government schools across fifteen purposively selected Gram Panchayats. The study found that awareness of the legal right and the provision of physical access are high, but the monitoring of enrolment, retention and dropout, the enforcement of protective duties, and community mobilisation are weak. Punjab lags most on monitoring and awareness, whereas Himachal Pradesh integrates governance most fully. Furthermore, the School Management Committees are universally constituted yet operate formally as it coexists with low beneficiary awareness. The article argues that decentralisation bridges rights-based legislation and educational outcomes only where local capacity, financial autonomy and outcome-based monitoring are present.