Which article of the Indian Constitution provides free and compulsory…

Concept

The Constitution originally placed elementary education among the non-justiciable Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) in Part IV. The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 changed this by inserting a new Article 21A into Part III (Fundamental Rights), converting free and compulsory education for a defined age group into a right enforceable in court.

Application to this question

The 86th Amendment inserted Article 21A right after Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty), making it a Fundamental Right. Article 21A obligates the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged six to fourteen years, matching the age range stated in the question. The same Amendment reworded the old Article 45 to instead direct the State toward early childhood care and education for children below six years, so Article 45 no longer covers the six-to-fourteen band.

Cross-check against the other options

• Article 45 (Part IV, DPSP): after the 86th Amendment this article addresses early childhood care and education for children below six years, not the six-to-fourteen band asked about.

• Article 24 (Part III): prohibits the employment of children below fourteen years in factories, mines, and other hazardous occupations — it concerns child labour, not education.

• Article 370 (Part XXI, its operation rendered inoperative through the 2019 Presidential Orders): granted special autonomous status to the former state of Jammu and Kashmir; it has no connection to education.

Result

Article 21A is therefore the constitutional provision that casts free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen as a Fundamental Right.