The right to education and special education in India and Ireland: A comparative doctrinal and policy analysis

Abstract

Special education has moved, in both India and Ireland, from a discretionary welfare concern to a claimed legal entitlement. Yet the two common law jurisdictions, though sharing a constitutional inheritance, have translated the promise of inclusion into enforceable law and workable practice along markedly different lines, and both continue to face a gap between statutory promise and classroom delivery. This article undertakes a comparative doctrinal and policy analysis of the right to education, with particular emphasis on special and inclusive education, measured against Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In India, the entitlement is assembled from constitutional foundations (Articles 21A, 14, 15 and 41), the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, and an expanding body of jurisprudence. In Ireland, the right emerged through landmark litigation and was to be secured by the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004, key provisions of which remain uncommenced two decades later and are now under formal scrutiny through the 2025 EPSEN Review. Despite differing legal architectures, both systems display a recurring pattern in which statutory aspiration is undermined by weak enforcement machinery and limited accountability. The analysis identifies transferable reform priorities, including enforceable individualised education plans, an independent appellate mechanism, expanded investment in trained special educators, and a robust monitoring system, as necessary conditions for realising acceptability, accessibility, and adaptability in education for every child.