“The challenge is to put a lot of efforts in consumer education. If people know what their rights are, they will be protected. If they don’t, they will be exploited.” - Gerhard Coetzee. 

The CPA, 1986 provides all consumers in India, six major consumer rights in order to protect their needs and interests and to provide them with utmost satisfaction as consumers. These rights include:

The right to be heard, the right to choose, the right to safety, the right to seek redressal, the right to information and the right to consumer education. 

The main aim of the CPA, 1986 is to basically provide provisions and establish consumer protection councils and redressal agencies so that these six rights can be promoted and implemented in order to help consumers, and prevent them from getting exploited.

Consumer education, means educating consumers about the different ways in which they should make their purchasing decisions, and consists of providing them with the necessary information that they need. Moreover, it involves informing them about the various rights and duties that they have, as consumers so as to ensure that they reach the maximum level of satisfaction while using the resources acquired by them. 

In order to see and analyse the development of consumer education in India, it is important to highlight the meaning and  objectives of consumerism. 

Consumerism is defined as the social force designed to protect consumer interests by organising consumer pressure on the business. It challenges the very concept of marketing of goods and services.

There are three major objectives, that consumerism seeks to achieve. These are:

1. Removal or reduction of discontent or dissatisfaction from among the consumers generated during the exchange process with the sellers.
2. Consumerism is generally interested in protecting consumer interests and rights which maybe exploited by the organisation with whom the exchange is taking place. 
3. Consumerism takes a keen interest in resolving matters related to environment and its degradation. 

Although the Consumer Protection Act does not provide for any explicit provisions concerning the methods or measures to promote consumer education in India, even then there are several ways through which this can be done. These are-

1. Multi media publicity campaigns;
2. Creating awareness through advertisements, using modes such as newspapers, radio, television, and others;
3. The Meghdoot Postcards scheme;
4. Use of the internet and other social media platforms to create consumer awareness;
5. Introducing the national consumer helpline as well as the consumer care guidance centres.