Primary Education - Free and compulsory and How?

This is one of the subjects I have been quite passionate about - India's Primary Education Sector and the ills ailing it. I believe this is the root issue which needs immediate attention to make the growth "Inclusive". What most politicians and society should understand is we need to make people skilled enough to run with the pace of reforms and well any amount of reservations in higher education, dilution in quality and encouragement of quantity and even the often liked mob culture of different communities to lay hands on the cake wont help. These factors mentioned can only derail growth. The Problem and the solution is as below :

• Compulsory and Free Primary Education- I still fail to understand why no Indian party, caste or state ever fought or did a "Bandh" to demand free and compulsory education to its children? Education in my view should be a fundamental right and the state should not be allowed to abdicate its basic responsibility. India should make it a law that every kid should go to school as a matter of law.
• Government shouldn't teach, but i agree that the large number of substandard GOVT schools already in place can not be dumped, so why not give people a choice, you send your kid to GOVT school of course with a caveat that these GOVT schools be improved to compete with private education providers and also be made more accountable. In case a parent doesn't want to go to the public school, the GOVT should reimburse the difference in the school fees subject to an upper limit. JUST GIVE VOUCHERS to the parents which can be redeemed at the private school.
  
• The GOVT should only facilitate and act as an arbitrator to the curicullum of the schools,we can not in any case allow political considerations to dictate or dilute the coursework.
• In india 55% children never go to school, and most are drop outs inspite of the fact that schools offer mid day meals. How will simple caste based reservation in higher education help when you dont even have a steady supply of eligible students form these castes in the stystem? The best way to go forward would probably be that we insure universal education, maintain high quality and make sure the feeding system to the higher education is devoid of any caste or economic bias and then see that these reservations we already have in place would bear fruit. Then may be some one our people wont compete to be labelled "backward".

Lets see if we can include education to the list of air, water, earth, fire and space. Make education the sixth element!!! Its Elemetary aint it!