A PIL plea that sought direction from the Government of Tamil Nadu to introduce the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) pattern of education for State Board schools was rejected by the Madras High Court on Wednesday, February 23. 

It was the first bench of Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy that rejected the plea while dismissing a writ petition from JA Joseph. He described himself as the Founder-President of JJ Party, which is yet to be registered by the Election Commission of India, stated a report by PTI.

To enhance education and to help meet the requirements of all central and other state government entrance, qualifying and employment examinations, JA Joseph prayed for a direction to the state educational authorities to take up the NCERT syllabus for elementary to higher secondary in all government and government-aided schools.

The existing Samacheer Kalvi system does not help students when it comes to clearing competitive examinations such as IIT-JEE (Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination) and CLAT (Common Law Admission Test), the petitioner contended. 

Dismissing the petition at the stage of admission, the bench stated that this is a policy decision and it can only be decided by the Government of Tamil Nadu. It was not for the court to decide the right kind of syllabus for schools, it said. Nor had the petitioner cited any provision of law which mandated that state governments follow only the NCERT syllabus, the bench added.