Critics faulted the Right to Education Act 2009 (RTE) on many counts when it was finally passed, a century after being proposed by Gokhale. Still, the RTE was welcome-the child’s right to education was now a justiciable right which put the compulsion of provision on the state. In some ways the RTE takes up and consolidates earlier trends, in others it is a striking departure from them. In mandating a basic minimum of infrastructure and trained teachers in all schools, the RTE reversed a disturbing trend which had slowly become entrenched over the years. In the government sector, poorly equipped EGS/AIE schools were acceptable for difficult situations and in many states trained teachers had been replaced by less qualified para teachers or contract teachers, a low cost alternative. Nambissan (2010) remarks on the irony of poorly paid less skilled teachers for disadvantaged children as a ‘travesty of social justice’. The low fee for profit private schools targeting the same clientele also relied on local less qualified staff. By insisting that all schools have basic facilities the RTE restored a certain dignity to the schooling system for the disadvantaged. Derecognising schools which did not have these standards by March 2013 (a deadline which has passed without fanfare) was part of this line of thinking.